issn : 2717-4948 nepalese journal of hospitality and

ISSN : 2717-4948

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

(The Double-blind, Peer-reviewed Journal of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management)

Vol. 1 No. 1 March 2020

Government of NepalMinistry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation

NEPAL ACADEMY OF TOURISM AND HOTEL MANAGEMENT

ISSN No. 2717-4948

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management[The Double-blind, Peer-reviewed Journal of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management]

Vol. 1, No. 1 March 2020

Chief Editor Prof. Arhan Sthapit, PhD

Associate EditorsSurya Kiran Shrestha, MPhil

Bikash Shrestha, MPhilShiva Prasad Jaishi

Published byNepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (affi liated to Tribhuvan University)

Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (Government of Nepal) Rabi Bhawan, Kalimati, Kathmandu, Nepal

Post Box 4715+977-1-4271028, 4270605, 4301419

Website: www.nathm.edu.np

Editorial Mailing AddressChief Editor

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management [email protected]

Disclaimer

The opinions and data presented in the articles of the Journal (NJHTM) do not rep-resent those of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) and the Chief Editor and other editors, but those of the author(s) and the referred data sources.

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ISSN No. 2717-4948

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management[The Double-blind, Peer-reviewed Journal of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management]

Vol. 1, No. 1 March 2020

PatronsMr. Kedar Bahadur AdhikariSecretary, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation; Chairperson, Nepal Academy of Tourism & Hotel Management (NATHM)

Mr. Dipak Kumar ThapaExecutive DirectorNepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM)

Advisory BoardProf. Dr. Dilli Raj Sharma Dean, Faculty of ManagementTribhuvan University, NEPAL

Prof. Dr. Dhruba K. Gautam Asst. Dean, Faculty of ManagementTribhuvan University, NEPAL

Prof. Dr. A. HarikrishnanRegistrar, Indus International University; and Dean, School of Arts, Management & Education (SAME), Indus International University, INDIA

Prof. Dr. Jeevan BhattaraiNepal Commerce Campus, Faculty of Management, Tribhuvan University, NEPAL

Prof. Dr. Subarna L. BajracharyaProfessor (Rtd), Faculty of Management, Tribhuvan University, NEPAL

Prof. Dr. Mahananda ChaliseDirector, School of Management (SOMTU)Tribhuvan University, NEPAL

Dr. (Mrs.) Zeinab NawarFaculty of Business Administration & Economics The British University in Egypt, Cairo, EGYPT

Prof. Dr. Bed P. GiriDean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lumbini Buddhist University, NEPAL

Special thanks to:

Prof. Dr. Shilu Manandhar Bajracharya, Dean, Faculty of Management & Law, Nepal Open University

Prof. Dr. Mahananda Chalise, Director, School of Management, Tribhuvan University

Asct. Prof. Dr. Jeetendra Dangol, Public Youth Campus, Tribhuvan University

Dr. Pushpa Maharjan, Public Youth Campus, Tribhuvan University

Dr. Kishor Hakuduwal, Bhaktapur Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University

Niyam Raj Shrestha, Public Youth Campus, Tribhuvan University

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ISSN No. 2717-4948

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism ManagementVol. 1, No. 1 March 2020

Editorial

Hospitality and Tourism Research Dissemination: Crossing the Rubicon in Nepali Academics

Prof. Arhan Sthapit, PhD Chief Editor

The inaugural edition of the NJHTM, a journal of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM), has been brought out at a time when the

country has been all set to embark upon a decade of tourism development with a national target to bring in 2 million tourists, branding Nepal as “Naturally Nepal, Once is not Enough.” The campaign carries requisite creditability and impact, because “heaven is a myth, Nepal is real,” as they say. Nepal’s fl ora and fauna, cultural and heritage products, ethnic diversities, and neutral-ground status all add substantial value to Nepal’s potential as a favourite destination for visitors from all around the world for varied purposes.

Offi cial data show that the hospitality and tourism sector contribute about 5 per cent of the total foreign currency earnings to Nepal (MoCTCA, 2019), while its contribution to Nepal’s GDP accounts for about 7.8 per cent as per an NTB report (NTB, 2018) and a little over 5 per cent according to a WTTC Economic Impact report (WTTC, 2020). On the global front, travel and tourism sector is one of the world’s booming industries, generating approximately US$ 8.8 trillion annually and contributing 319 million jobs to the world economy (WTTC, 2018). It also applies to Nepalese economic context, as hospitality and tourism development can be instrumental to its national goal to make Nepalese economy sustainable, by developing Nepal as an attractive, safe, exciting and unique destination through conservation and promotion, which would lead to equitable distribution of tourism benefi ts and greater harmony in society (Sthapit, 2012).

Conspicuously, it requires our country to formulate and execute credible, effective plans and strategies in the hospitality and tourism sector that, in turn,

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demands abundant, well-administered research works in this sector. But there is dearth of research works and their dissemination in Nepal. To this end has the present journal been launched under the aegis of NATHM, an academy under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the Nepal Government.

The inaugural volume of the journal has lumped together some of the scholarly research works that shed light on the ever-changing scenarios of managing hospitality business and tourism. The brand-new edition has included fi ve empirical papers, a pick made on the basis of quality and relevance to changing trends.

It is also pleasing to note that this publication has covered a wide array of constituents of hospitality and tourism management studies insofar as the papers showcased in this edition are concerned. The topics of the papers ranged from religious/spiritual tourism product, to knowledge management, employer branding, labour legislation issues and general HRM practices in the hospitality industry.

The publication has come in reiteration of our commitment to research, as we strongly believe that teaching and research must constitute two equal halves of what an academic institution does; failing which could cause substantial damage to the quality of education and learning.

Paper-contributors and reviewers as well as the NATHM authorities and employees deserve our sincere thanks for making this publication possible. With all modesty, we hope that the readers and reviewers will fi nd this issue informative and interesting. We look forward to the constructive feedback from our valued readers.

REFERENCES

MoCTCA (2019 May). Nepal Tourism Statistics, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. The Government of Nepal. Retrieved from http://tourism.gov.np/fi les/statistics/19.pdf

NTB (2018 Mar 28). Nepal Tourism Board. The Government of Nepal (Offi cial website). https://trade.welcomenepal.com/

Sthapit (2012). On research for tourism management, PYC Nepal Journal of Management, 5(1), 103-107.

WTTC (2018). Annual research report. World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Retrieved from https://www.wttc.org/publications

WTTC (2020). Economic impact. A report of World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Retrieved from https://www.wttc.org/economic-impact/

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ISSN No. 2717-4948

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management

(A double blind, peer-reviewed journal) Volume: I No. 1 2020 March

Table of Contents

Title Authors Page No.

Editorial1. Hospitality and Tourism Research

Dissemination: Crossing the Rubicon in Nepali Academics

Arhan Sthapit

Papers2. Knowledge Management Enablers for

Knowledge Creation Externalisation in Nepalese Hospitality Industry

Pushpa Maharjan, NEPAL

1

3. Dimensions of Attractiveness in Employer Branding for Employee Retention in Nepalese Hospitality Industry

Arhan Sthapit &

Bikash Shrestha, NEPAL

13

4. Human Resource Management Challenges in the Hospitality Industry: Insights from Nepal

Surya Kiran Shrestha, NEPAL

27

5. Perception of Employees about the Regulatory Environment in the Tourism Industry: Insights from Nepal

Sandeep Basnyat, MACAO, CHINA

34

6. What Motivates Tourists to Visit Religious Sites: A Case Study of Pashupatinath Area

Sunita Dabadi & Sitaram Sharma, NEPAL

49

Guidelines to Contributors 60

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ABOUT OF THE JOURNAL

PURPOSE OF THE JOURNALNepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management (NJHTM) is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal of Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM). The main purpose of this refereed journal is to advance and foster hospitality and tourism education, research, and professionalism through active engagement with diff erent stakeholders including academicians, researchers, policy makers, students and entrepreneurs. The journal aims at providing a vehicle for increasing awareness, consideration and analysis of issues in hospitality and tourism, and also promoting the interchange of ideas within Nepal and other parts of the world.

PEER REVIEW STATEMENT The NJHTM is a journal that operates a double blind, peer review process: every paper is reviewed by subject and domain experts by ensuring anonymity of both authors and reviewers. The chief editor sends the paper for blind, peer review after performing initial screening. Then, the authors are apprised of the comments received from the refereed reviewers so that the former incorporate the latter’s comments into their papers. So improved papers are submitted to the editorial team following which the Chief Editor reverts them to the reviewers if the improved submission does not still meet the scientifi c quality meant for a research journal. The fi nal, improved paper is fi nally edited and formatted by the Chief Editor for publication.

THEMATIC TOPICS COVERED BY THE JOURNAL Human resource management and labour issues in hospitality and tourism Hospitality and tourism education and training, and teaching-learning pedagogies and

e-learning practices Sustainable practices in tourism development and hospitality management Entrepreneurship and innovation in hospitality and tourism industry Emerging issues in hospitality and tourism Operational practices and service delivery in hospitality and tourism industry Corporate social responsibility practices in hospitality and tourism industry Product design, packaging and branding of tourism destinations, adventure tourism,

conference tourism, cultural tourism, homestay management Service quality management and customer satisfaction in hospitality and tourism Revenue management and strategic pricing of retail services in hospitality and tourism Environment analysis (economic, ecological, and socio-cultural) in hospitality and tourism Management of gastronomy, wine and food Practices of spirituality and wellness in hospitality and tourism Indigenous hospitality practices of Nepalese society Global warming, climate change and related challenges for hospitality and tourism industry Management of mitigation of risk and disasters in hospitality and tourism industry Research methods in hospitality and tourism industry

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Nepalese Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Vol I, No. 1: March 2020

1

Knowledge Management Enablers for Knowledge Creation Externalisation in Nepalese Hospitality Industry

Pushpa Maharjan1

Asst Professor Public Youth Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationships between the knowledge management enablers and knowledge creation externalisation in the hospitality industry such as hotel, travel and trekking agencies in Nepal. The study is based on primary data with 382 responses. The self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the perceptive opinions from the respondents. The study concludes that the key knowledge management enablers such as collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation and information technology do influence to the knowledge creation externalisation positively. Managers should promote collaboration, trust, learning and information technology facilities for employees to create knowledge in organisation.

Keywords: Collaboration, centralisation, externalisation formalisation, IT support, learning, trust

I. INTRODUCTION Externalisation (tacit to explicit knowledge) is a process of formalisation of tacit knowledge in explicit concepts or understandable for organisation or any individual, through the own articulation of this one and its move to support quickly understandable (Nonaka & Konno, 1998). Dialogue and deductive and inductive techniques such metaphors, analogies, or construction of archetypes and stories shared (Nonaka, 1991; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995) facilitated the expression of ideas or images in words, concepts, figurative and visual language and they are basic tools that support externalisation. In socialisation and externalisation knowledge is shared within the organisation. The socialisation of tacit knowledge from collective experiences and mental models is disseminated in the company through externalisation (Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995; Nonaka & Konno, 1998). To formalise explicit concepts, the externalisation needs tacit knowledge achieved through socialisation (Nonaka & Konno, 1998) to share it in the organisation (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995; Nonaka & Toyama, 2003). Processes of socialisation affect processes of externalisation because the participants of these ones must share time and space to work through direct experience for the interaction of this tacit and explicit knowledge (Nonaka & Toyama, 2003).

1 Dr. Majarjan has published a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals. She worked as Deputy Director of BTTM programme at Public Youth Campus, TU, some time back. She can be contacted at Email: [email protected]


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Therefore, tacit knowledge of socialisation is articulated into explicit forms through externalisation activities (Li et al., 2009).

Externalisation also assists staff to convey pictorial information or thoughts as considerable conceptions and ideas that are desired for new product development and improvement (Tsai & Li, 2007). In externalisation, the employment of metaphors in discussions is fundamental at a conceptual stage of a project (Li et al., 2009). In other words, externalisation is beneficial to new product development and continuous quality improvement initiatives due to the convenience and easily comprehensible methods available from forming explicit knowledge. Migdadi (2005), Choi (2002) and Berraies et al. (2014) found that collaboration is positively related with externalisation. But, Lee and Choi (2000) found that collaboration has no effect on knowledge creation externalisation. Choi (2002), Lee and Choi (2000), Berraies et al. (2014) and Migdadi (2005) found that trust is a significant predictor of externalisation. Migdadi (2005) evaluated that learning significantly impact the externalisation. However, Lee and Choi (2000), Choi (2002) and Berraies et al. (2014) found that learning does not affect the externalisation mode.

Kandel (2015) suggested that the Nepalese telecom industry should be aware in making good use of intranets to disseminate the information on products and processes within their organisations. There is still need to develop metaphors and analogies to describe. Chalise (2006 & 2011) suggested that Nepalese banking industry should be aware in making good use of intranets to disseminate the information on products and processes within their organisation.

In the context of Nepal, there is a need to study whether the impact of knowledge management enablers on the knowledge creation externalisation is significant or not. Therefore, this study seeks to examine whether knowledge creation externalisation, in a Nepalese context, have been applied or not, and if applied, what the consequences of them are. Nepalese hospitality industry is very competitive. Knowledge is a resource to gain competitive advantage in this sector. It requires obtaining comprehensive information on how knowledge is managed and utilised in hospitality industry. It is also necessary to examine the organisational culture, structure and information technology that are essential in managing the knowledge creation process in hospitality industry in order to make it more efficient.

The objective of the study is to evaluate the relationship between knowledge management enablers and knowledge creation externalisation in the business enterprises of sectors such as hotel, travel and trekking agencies. Remaining part of the paper has been divided in three sections. Second section presents the research methodology, third section reveals results and the final section presents the conclusion of the study.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Culture is important for facilitating sharing, learning, and knowledge creation. Culture is values, beliefs, norms, and symbols (Price Waterhouse Change Integration Team, 1996). In general, culture highly values knowledge, encourages its creation, sharing, application, and promotes open climate for free flow of ideas. The development of such culture is the major challenge for knowledge management efforts. Organisational cultures change over time as organisations adjust to environmental contingencies. Every organisation has its own particular culture and


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its own unique practices (Schein, 1985). An effective culture for knowledge management consists of norms and practices that promote the transfer of information between employees and across department lines (Yeh, Lai & Ho, 2006). Building an effective culture where people operate in an organisation is a critical requirement for effective knowledge management (Gupta & Govindarajan, 2000). Many studies conducted to investigate causes of knowledge management initiative failure, have recognised that organisational culture is the main barrier to knowledge management success (Tuggle & Shaw, 2000).

Collaboration is an important feature in knowledge management adoption. It is defined as the degree to which people in a group actively assist one another in their task (Hurley & Hult, 1998; Lee & Choi, 2003). A collaborative culture in the workplace influences knowledge management as it allows for increased levels of knowledge exchange, which is a prerequisite for knowledge creation. This is made possible because collaborative culture eliminates common barriers to knowledge exchange by reducing fear and increasing openness in teams (Lee & Choi, 2003).

Trust can be defined as maintaining reciprocal faith in each other in terms of intention and behaviours (Kreitner & Kinicki, 1992). By alleviating the fear of risk and uncertainty, trust encourages a climate conducive to better knowledge creation. Trust is critical in a cross-functional or interorganisational team because withholding information because of a lack of trust can be especially harmful to knowledge articulation, internalisation, and reflection (Hedlund, 1994). Distrust leads people to hide or hoard their knowledge (Jarvenpaa & Staples, 2000). In a distrusted environment, knowledge will not be created, or will be created in a restrictive manner. Therefore, facilitating trust among cross-functional or interorganisational team members is important for the foundation of knowledge creation (Ichijo et al., 1998; Lubit, 2001; Nelson & Cooprider, 1996; Scott, 2000).

The capacity of knowledge creation can be increased by various learning means such as education, training, and mentoring. Krogh (1998) proposed training programs as a means of knowledge creation. Swap et al., (2001) highlighted mentoring as a key means in creating organisational knowledge. Intense mentoring enables professionals to obtain a higher level of knowledge. For the organisations to be successful in knowledge creation, traditional training and development activities may no longer suffice; they need to nurture an environment with continuous and persisting learning (Lubit, 2001; Eppler & Sukowski, 2000).

Centralisation refers to the locus of decision authority and control within an organisational entity (Caruana, Morris, & Vella, 1998). The concentration of decision-making authority inevitably reduces creative solutions while the dispersion of power facilitates spontaneity, experimentation, and the freedom of expression, which are the lifeblood of knowledge creation (Graham & Pizzo, 1996). Therefore, many researchers proposed that a centralised organisational structure makes it harder to create knowledge (Teece, 2000). Moreover, centralised structure hinders interdepartmental communication and frequent sharing of ideas due to time-consuming communication channels (Bennett & Gabriel, 1999); it also causes distortion and discontinuousness of ideas (Stonehouse & Pemberton, 1999). Without a constant flow of communication and ideas, knowledge creation does not occur.


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Formalisation is an obstacle on the way towards externalisation, integration, and internalisation processes. Zucker et al. (1996) have found that less centralisation and formalisation can lead to higher degrees of knowledge management implementation and process flow at all levels of the organisation.

Technology is a powerful enabler of knowledge management success. It is generally accepted that databases, intranets, knowledge platforms and networks are the main blocks that support knowledge management. Information Technology facilitates quick search, access of information, cooperation and communication between organisational members (Yeh, Lai, & Ho, 2006). There is an extensive collection of information technologies such as data warehousing, intranet, internet, which can be implemented and integrated in an organisation’s technological platform and work together as knowledge management system. Luan and Serban (2002) grouped information technologies into more than one category: business intelligence, knowledge base, collaboration, content and document management, portals, customer relationship management, data mining, workflow, search, and e-learning.

Externalisation is a process of converting tacit knowledge into explicit notions and often occurs in the conceptual stage generated by discussion or brainstorming (Choi & Lee, 2002). Externalisation results in the creation of ‘conceptual knowledge’ (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). In short, externalisation involves the conversion of knowledge that cannot be easily codified (tacit knowledge) into knowledge that can be easily codified (explicit knowledge). The externalisation process aims at reducing an organisation’s reliance on individual team members, thus making knowledge independent from individuals (Berends, et al., 2007). According to Salmador and Bueno (2007), externalisation is a practice of elucidating the knowledge obtained from know-how into concepts, hypotheses, models, metaphors or analogies via communication. Externalisation happens when the organisation conveys formally its internal rules of performance or when it unequivocally sets goals or targets (Martin-de-Castro et al., 2008). Bolloju et al. (2002) stated that knowledge externalisation refers to the use of existing knowledge to produce organisational yields. They elaborate that it occurs once people utilise descriptions in articulating standpoints on revealing concealed and hard-to-communicate tacit knowledge. Therefore, externalisation can also be driven by organisational policies or strategies in addition to the practice of the employees in codifying their knowledge and information for the benefit of the project as well as the organisation.

The studies on knowledge management enablers for knowledge creation externalisation revealed that the knowledge creation externalisation is associated with collaboration (Lee & Choi, 2000; Migdadi, 2005). Similarly, the study exposed that trust is significantly related to the knowledge creation externalisation (Lee & Choi, 2000; Migdadi, 2005; Chen et al. 2011), who found that trust, is significantly related to the. Limited studies are conducted regarding knowledge management in Nepal. Chalise (2006 & 2011) conducted the study about impact of knowledge management on banking innovation and performance. Shakya (2012) conducted the research on organisational learning and performance. Chaudhary (2016) performed the research on strategic alignment of knowledge management for organisational performance. However, as reviewed this study in the area of enquiring enablers of knowledge management in Nepalese perspective and their implications on knowledge creation externalisation is amiss. In order to meet the identified gap, this study has been initiated.


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Knowledge Management Enablers

Fig 1: Knowledge Management Enablers for Knowledge Creation Externalisation

III. RESEARCH METHOD To examine knowledge management enablers for knowledge creation externalisation in Nepalese hospitality industry, the study used the descriptive research design based on the survey. The quantitative research design is applied to develop an understanding of the research issue.

The study has used primary data collected from executives, managers, department heads, sales officers, marketing officers, finance officers, guest relation officers, public relation officers and human resource managers in the hospitality industry organisations. In the process of gathering information, a structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument. The primary data were collected by ‘delivery and collection’ methods.

The total of 458 responses was collected from 97 firms. Due to incomplete data, 76 responses were eliminated. Consequently, 382 responses from 97 firms were taken for further analysis. The total response rate was 83 per cent. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the perceptive opinions from the respondents.

Questionnaire items developed included a list of 56 items to measure the different constructs in the study: collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation, formalisation, information technology and knowledge creation externalisation. The development of the items was done by re-evaluating intensively the literature review related to the concepts and constructs stated in the integrative view. The aim of this empirical research is to test whether the dimensions proposed in the above-mentioned integrative view support a significant distinction between different kinds of knowledge management enablers.

To validate the proposed research model, this study conducted a pre-test. The pre-test was conducted in the month of November, 2014. For the pre-test survey, this study developed questionnaire and collected data from 36 potential respondents of the selected samples: both hotels (20) and travel/trekking agencies of 16 respondents. Based on the findings of the pre-test survey, research questionnaire was modified to improve reliability and validity of the study. After the pre-test, the questionnaire was finalised and the main study was conducted.

Culture •Collaboration (COL) •Trust (TRU) •Learning (LEA)

Information Technology

•IT-Support (ITS)

Structure •Centralisation (CEN) •Formalisation (FOR)

Knowledge Creation

Externalisation (KCE)


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The study used regression analysis to test the interrelationship of knowledge management enablers (independent variables) similarly their impact on knowledge creation externalisation (dependent variables). The application of regression analysis to the present study is desirable as they significantly help researchers evaluate the causal effect of one variable on other variables.

Hypotheses The study hypotheses were largely derived from theoretical statements made in the literature on knowledge management. In the first hypothesis, the study analysed the collaboration dimension of knowledge management enabler. In the second and third hypotheses, the study analysed the trust and learning dimension. In the fourth, fifth and six hypotheses, the study analysed the centralisation, formalisation and information technology support dimension.

Hypothesis 1: Collaboration The study proposes to analyse the collaboration for knowledge creation externalisation. The following hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: Collaboration does not affect knowledge creation externalisation. Alternative hypothesis, H1: Collaboration affects knowledge creation externalisation positively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 1 implies that collaboration will have positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the effective role of collaboration on knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the collaboration is not helpful for knowledge creation externalisation.

Hypothesis 2: Trust After determination of the collaboration for knowledge creation externalisation, the study proposes to evaluate the trust dimension of knowledge creation externalisation. To test the trust for knowledge creation externalisation, the testable hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: Trust does not affect knowledge creation externalisation. Alternative hypothesis, H2: Trust affects knowledge creation externalisation positively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 2 implies that trust will have positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the effective role of trust on knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the trust does not play important role for knowledge creation externalisation.

Hypothesis 3: Learning After determination of the trust for knowledge creation externalisation, the study proposes to evaluate the learning for knowledge creation externalisation. To test the learning for knowledge creation externalisation, the testable hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: Learning does not affect knowledge creation externalisation.

Alternative hypothesis, H3: Learning affects knowledge creation externalisation positively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 3 implies that learning will have positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the effective


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role of learning on knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the learning does not play important role for knowledge creation externalisation.

Hypothesis 4: Centralisation After determination of the learning for knowledge creation externalisation, the study proposes to evaluate the centralisation for knowledge creation externalisation. To test the centralisation for knowledge creation externalisation, the testable hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: Centralisation does not affect knowledge creation externalisation.

Alternative hypothesis, H4: Centralisation affects knowledge creation externalisation negatively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 4 implies that centralisation will have negative effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the negative effect of centralisation for knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the centralisation does not play important role for knowledge creation externalisation.

Hypothesis 5: Formalisation After determination of the centralisation for knowledge creation externalisation, the study proposes to evaluate the formalisation for knowledge creation externalisation. To test the formalisation for knowledge creation externalisation, the testable hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: Formalisation does not affect knowledge creation externalisation. Alternative hypothesis, H5: Formalisation affects knowledge creation externalisation negatively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 5 implies that formalisation will have negative effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the negative effect of formalisation for knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the formalisation does not play important role for knowledge creation externalisation.

Hypothesis 6: IT Support After determination of the formalisation for knowledge creation externalisation, the study proposes to evaluate the IT support for knowledge creation externalisation. To test the IT support for knowledge creation externalisation, the testable hypotheses have been formulated:

Null hypothesis, H0: IT support does not affect knowledge creation externalisation. Alternative hypothesis, H6: IT support affects knowledge creation externalisation positively.

The acceptance of alternative hypothesis associated with hypothesis 6 implies that IT support will have positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation and it points to the effective role of IT support for knowledge creation externalisation. On the other hand, if the tests reject the alternative hypotheses and it may suggest that the IT support does not play important role for knowledge creation externalisation.


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Regression Equation Model between KCE and KMEs Regression equation between the knowledge creation externalisation and knowledge management enablers as follows:

KCE = α + β1 COL + β2 TRU + β3 LEA + β4 CEN + β5 FOR + β6 ITS +E Where, KCE = knowledge creation externalisation α = constant number

β1 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change in collaboration

β2 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change in trust β3 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change in

learning β4 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change

in centralisation

β5 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change in formalisation

β6 = change in knowledge creation externalisation associated with unit change in information technology

COL = collaboration TRU = trust LEA = learning CEN = centralisation

FOR = formalisation ITS = information technology E = prediction error (residual)

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS The regression results of knowledge creation externalisation on collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation, formalisation, and information technology are presented in Models 1 to 6 include various combinations of the fundamental variables. Model 7 includes various combinations of fundamental cultural variables. Model 8 has various combinations of fundamental structural variables and model 9 includes all the six fundamental variables simultaneously.

Table 1

Estimated Relationship between KCE and Fundamental Variables The results are based on pooled cross-sectional data of 97 enterprises with 382 observations by using linear regression model. The model is, KCE = α + β1 COL + β2 TRU + β3 LEA + β4 CEN + β5 FOR + β6 ITS + E. Where, KCE, COL, TRU, LEA, CEN, FOR and ITS are knowledge creation externalisation, collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation, formalisation and information technology respectively. Results for various subsets of independent variables are presented as well.


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Models

Intercept

Regression Coefficients of

R2

Adjusted R2

F

DW

COL TRU LEA CEN FOR ITS

1

2.263 (000)*

0.511 (000)*

0.245 0.243 123.417 (000)*

1.981

2 2.875 (000)*

0.397 (000)*

0.159 0.157 71.752 (000)*

1.984

3 2.093 (000)*

0.585 (000)*

0.345 0.343 200.293 (000)*

2.056

4 4.628 (000)*

0.080 (0.025)**

0.013 0.011 5.063 (0.025)**

1.727

5

4.713 (000)*

0.055

(0.138)

0.006

0.003

2.205

(0.138)

1.742

6 2.389

(000)*

0.514 (000)*

0.292 0.290 156.456

(000)*

1.711

7 1.657

(000)*

0.169 (0.014)**

0.034 (0.561)

0.458

(000)*

0.365 0.360 72.356

(000)*

2.055

8 4.627

(000)*

0.079 (0.093)

0.001 (0.981)

0.013 0.008 2.525

(0.081)

1.727

9 1.090

(000)*

0.069 (0.305)

0.022 (0.688)

0.377 (000)*

0.000 (0.991)

0.013 (0.722)

0.304

(000)*

0.439 0.430 48.819

(000)*

1.896

Note : Questionnaire survey, 2015 Notes : (1) Figures in parentheses are p-values. (2) * and ** denote that the results are significant at 1 per cent and 5 per cent level of significance respectively.

In the context of collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation, formalisation, and information technology variables are found to be essential for knowledge creation externalisation. (β= 0.511, p < 0.05) in model 1, which supports H1. It indicates that the good coordination among different units and people in the hospitality industry promote expression of ideas and concepts. The result is similar to Migdadi (2005), Choi (2002) and Berraies et al. (2014), which found that collaboration is a positively related with externalisation. But the study result contradicts with Lee and Choi (2000), which found that collaboration, has no effect on the knowledge creation externalisation. In model 2, trust is a positively significant predictor of the knowledge creation externalisation (β = 0.397, p < 0.05), which supports H2. It indicates that the mutual faith promotes to formalise of the tacit knowledge in explicit concepts. This result is similar to Choi (2002), Lee and Choi (2000), Berraies et al. (2014) and Migdadi (2005), which found that trust is a significant predictor of externalisation. From Table 4-6 (c), it is clear that learning is a positively significant predictor of the knowledge creation externalisation (β= 0.585, p < 0.05) in model 3, which supports H3. In the Table, centralisation positively affects the knowledge


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creation externalisation in model 4 (β = 0.080, p < 0.05), which is contrary of the study expectation, centralisation has a positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation, indicates that it does not support H4. From Table 4-6 (c), it is clear that formalisation does not affect the knowledge creation externalisation in model 5 (β= 0.055, p > 0.05), which is contrary of the study expectation, formalisation has no effect on the knowledge creation externalisation; it indicates the lack of support H5. However, in model 6 information technology is a positively significant predictor of the knowledge creation externalisation (β= 0.514, p < 0.05), which supports H6.

The knowledge creation externalisation is positively influenced by collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation and information technology, and not significantly influenced by formalisation. The overall results show the positive relationship of knowledge creation externalisation with collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation and information technology, and not with formalisation.

V. CONCLUSION The study has concluded that the key knowledge management enablers such as collaboration, trust, learning, centralisation and information technology do influence to the knowledge creation externalisation positively. The study result supports to Lee and Choi (2000) and Migdadi (2005) from the collaboration point of view. Similarly, the study result supports to Lee and Choi (2000), Migdadi (2005), and Chen et al. (2011), who found that trust, is significantly related to the knowledge creation externalisation. Centralisation positively affects the knowledge creation externalisation, which is contrary of the study expectation, centralisation has a positive effect on the knowledge creation externalisation. Formalisation does not affect the knowledge creation externalisation, which is contrary of the study expectation, formalisation has no effect on the knowledge creation externalisation

In addition, the study results have revealed the culture as the most vital enabler of knowledge creation externalisation. Thus, building and supporting a culture which rewards and encourages employees for seeking, sharing, formalising and creating knowledge attributes will most probably lead to the successful capture, absorb, creation and implementation of knowledge management.

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Dimensions of Attractiveness in Employer Branding for Employee Retention in Nepalese Hospitality Industry

Arhan Sthapit2

Professor Faculty of Management & Law, Nepal Open University, Nepal

Bikash Shrestha3 Asst. Professor

Faculty of Management, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

ABSTRACT The topic of employer branding and employee retention is attracting great attention of management researchers and practitioners. Employer branding is one way that increases value of organisations, which integrates two significant organisational fields of branding and human resources, and together they give an adjusted view on the most proficient way to pull in and retain required employees. In this regard, the present study aims at investigating the major dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding for human resource retention in Nepalese hospitality industry. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design including four out of seven dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding with a sample of 292 respondents from six five-star hotels of Nepal stationed in the capital Valley of Kathmandu. Using Kendall’s tau, correlation analysis and Jonckheere-Terpstra test— the descriptive statistics, the study discovered that economic value and interest value dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding for HR retention significantly vary according to hierarchy of the employees in Nepalese hospitality industry.

Keywords: attractiveness dimensions, employer branding, employee retention, economic value, interest value

I. INTRODUCTION AND STUDY OBJECTIVES Employee commitment, productivity and retention issues are emerging as the most critical workforce management challenges in the global business environment (Caplan & Teese, 1997). Employee skills, employee knowledge and experiences, recruitment and retention of employees has become a major concern for organisations due to increasing levels of

2 Prof. Dr. Sthapit is a management practitioner-turned academician with 23 years of experience in commercial banking, development management and English journalism/editing. Educated in Nepal, India and USA in Management, Mass Communication, Global Trade and IPR, he has three dozen of papers in peer-reviewed journals of international repute and 7 text books to his credit. Email: [email protected] 3 Shrestha, an MPhil from Tribhuvan University, has published six papers in peer-reviewed journals of repute. Also educated and trained in hospitality and hotel management in India, his current area of interest includes value creation and service failure recovery in hospitality marketing. He can be reached at [email protected]


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importance for recognition of the workforce (Arachchige & Alan, 2013). High employee turnover is one of the major problems (Fladetta, Fasone, & Provenzano, 2013) and a continuous challenge for the hospitality industry (Brown, Thomas, & Bosselman, 2015) . The hotel industry is a dynamic service sector where optimal human resource management is required to ensure professionalism and efficiency in service delivery (Hanzaee & Mirvaisi, 2011). Ogbonna and Lloyd (2002) perceived employee retention as indispensable for the hospitality sector, as it employs more people than any other industry within the private segment, both domestically and globally.

Consumer brand management has been used for decades in order to communicate a distinctive customer experience and make the company externally attractive (Mosley , 2007). In recent times, organisations have realised the value of using these marketing efforts in personnel management and making the employment experience unique by generating and communicating an employment value proposition (Allen, Bryant, & Vardaman, 2010). Past literature well accepts the understanding that employees bring value to companies. Employer branding is one way that increases value of organisations, which integrates two significant organisational fields, branding and human resources, and together they give an adjusted view on the most proficient way to pull in and retain reasonable employees (Backaus & Tikoo, 2004).

Employer branding, as an important retention management technique focuses generally on how to make the employer attractive or the employer of choice, in order to lure the best possible talent to the company (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005). Companies that have been managing their employer brand consistently have been able to bring value to their employees thus leading to increased commitment, loyalty and retention (Ambler & Barrow, 1996; Moroko & Uncles, 2008). Supporting the statement, Riston (2002) emphasised on the importance of employer branding in reducing costs of recruitment, enhancing employee relations and retention and in the ability to offer lower salaries, compared to the companies with weaker brands. Likewise, Dell and Ainspan (2001) affirmed that effective employer branding would lead to competitive advantage, assist employees, internalise company esteems, and aid in employee retention.

However, it is extremely challenging to attract and retain a skilled workforce in this industry. Hence, employees have become the primary market for many, especially service companies such as hotels. Yet, the way the employer branding in Nepalese five-star hotels is utilised and what methods and interventions are used is commonly left unattended. Moreover, the link between the employer branding practices and employee retention is yet to be chalked out. Employer branding is a valuable concept for both managers and research scholars. Managers can use employer branding as a shade under which they can channel diverse employee recruitment and retention activities into a planned human asset methodology. Accordingly, employers can control brand capacity to engage their employees in passionate manners to achieve change, remarkable results or increase attraction and retention. Low retention rates in hotel industry has affected the ability to deliver a consistent brand experience, harming business; and the fact that not enough people see the growing industry as somewhere to build their careers (Druce, 2007). It can be an issue worth studying also in the hospitality industry of Nepal, a country with the 7.8 per cent of the GDP contribution (NTB, 2018) and at least 5


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per cent of the total foreign currency earnings from the hospitality and tourism sector (MoCTCA, 2019). These issues have entailed formulation of the following research objectives:

To identify the dimensions of attractiveness most preferred in employer branding for employee retention in Nepalese hospitality industry; and

To assess the differences existing at dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding for employee retention across management hierarchies

II. LITERATURE REVIEW With a view to gaining critical grasp of the topic of attractiveness dimensions in employer branding for employee retention in Nepalese hotel industry, past literature has been reviewed at two levels: Conceptual Review and Review of Related Studies.

2.1 Conceptual review The theoretical perspective of employer branding has largely been guided by the human capital theory and the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. According to the theoretical viewpoint, employer-branding concept is the sum of a company’s efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff that the organisation is a desirable place to work (Ewing, Leyland, Nigel, & Pierre, 2002). Potential workers see employers, who have high employer brand value as more alluring than those with lower employer brand esteem (Berthon, Ewing, & Hah, 2005).

The theoretical basis for the current study includes Social Exchange Theory (SET). The SET has become an instrumental theory in research regarding relationships at the workplace. The SET is founded on the idea that human behaviour or social interaction is an exchange process involving tangible and intangible costs and rewards (Homans, 1961). Blau (1964) asserted that SET involves a series of social and economic interactions and exchanges that generate obligations to reciprocate, engendering feelings of personal obligations, gratitude and trust. Social exchange hypotheses present social change and stability as a procedure of negotiated exchanges between parties (Emerson, 1976). The use of the SET to workplace relationships depends on the premise that certain predecessors at the workplace generate social exchange connections (Cropanzano, Byrne, Bobocel, & Rupp, 2001).

The social exchange theory assumes that even though the benefits exchanged need not be tangible, the recipients value these benefits exchanged between the parties involved in this mutually interdependent relationship. It implies that employees value the incentives offered by the employer, while the employer, in return, values the reciprocal contributions made by the employee. For the present examination, the social exchange theory gives the premise to demonstrating the way that in situations where an employer or and enterprise offers its employees value, proposition will result in elevated levels of employee loyalty and reliability (Molm, Peterson, & Takahashi, 1999). Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002) brought up that employees structure their thoughts and sentiments about the concern and care of their organisation towards them through the approaches, strategies and the core values authorised by various agents of the organisation. This is directly related to the conservation of an organisation’s reputation, its future and its idealistic picture, as a result this social exchange among employer and employees, demonstrating it to be a two-way thing (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005).


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2.2 Review of related studies As indicated by a hypothetical viewpoint, employer branding concept is depicted as the total of an organisations endeavour to communicate to existing and forthcoming staff that the organisation is an alluring place to work (Lloyd, 2002; Ewing, Leyland, Nigel, & Pierre, 2002). Sullivan (2004) characterised employer branding as focused on a long-haul strategy to deal with the awareness and perceptions of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders about a specific firm. The employer-branding idea got the consideration due to the growing challenge among rival companies, which expected ability to contend and achieve growth and sustainability (Mosley, 2007). Employer branding is a moderately new methodology towards recruiting and retaining the most ideal human talent within a recruiting environment that is getting progressively aggressive and it has captured impressive consideration in recent times. Attracting skilled people is equally as important as acquiring the equipment or technological resources that are required to build competitive advantage (Backaus & Tikoo, 2004).

Employer branding is the arrangement of functional, economic and psychological aids provided by employment, and recognised with the employing company (Ambler & Barrow, 1996). The study further probed into the concept by focusing on five dimensions; namely, the interest value, social value, economic value, development value and application value, and opined the way organisational brands convey the advantages of utilising a product or service to potential consumers. Employer brands impart the advantages of employment to potential employees. The interest value assesses the degree of appeal of an employer who is responsible for providing a work situation with innovation and creativeness opportunities. Social value calculates the mark of appeal of an organisation or a company providing a work environment with good and welcoming team spirit and decent respectable relations among co-workers. An economic value estimates the amount of attraction of an employer providing a worthy remuneration and profits. The development value is an attribute that estimates the degree of attractiveness of an employer providing career development and the application value determines the level of attraction of an establishment giving the opportunity to exercise and prepare what is found out.

The term employer branding does not just allude to recruitment strategies that are short term and bound to employment opportunities; employer branding is a long-haul technique, which centres around on the continuous flow of innovative skills in the organisation (Srivastava & Bhatnagar, 2010; Suikkanen, 2010; Sokro, 2012). Furthermore, Alniacik, Alniacik, Erat, and Akcin (2014) advocated employer branding as a contemporary approach that is continuously expanding and it could keep up the firms’ reputation in attracting and retaining employees. Dell and Ainspan, (2001) found that effective employer branding led to competitive advantage that would help employees internalise company values and assists in retaining employees. Collins (2006) discovered in a conference board report that organisations having effective employer branding leads to competitive advantage, assists employees internalise company values and aids in employee retention.

Employer branding consists of three crucial benefits for the organisation associated with recruiting, retaining and performance (Lievens, Greet, & Frederik, 2007). Organisations with a strong brand image can gain workers at relatively low cost, improve employee relations,


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increase employee retention and offer lower pay scales when contrasted with its rivals (Riston, 2002). A solid employer brand will make the organisation an alluring place for a talented work force and will pull in potential employees. A tough employer brand increases organisational commitment levels once workers identify with their organisation’s values (Ind, 2007). Davies (2008) showed the role of the employer brand in influencing employee’s perceived differentiation, affinity, satisfaction and loyalty. A good and sturdy employer brand urges the workers to put in extra effort, which benefits the organisation. Therefore, a maintained employer brand increases factors such as employee engagement and productivity efficiency (Xia & Liu, 2010). Similarly, as per Tanwar (2017), the dimensions of employer branding elucidate differences in levels of employees’ organisational commitment and through it, enterprises can enhance its employee retention levels. In addition, if the organisation is a desirable place to work, employees will enjoy working there which will increase their work performance (Taylor, 2010).

Dabirian, Kietzmann and Hoda (2017) added two more dimensions on employer branding; namely, management value and work life balance value. Management value is the good or bad influence of supervisors at work that determines employee retention. It is more a result of the manager’s mentality and their conduct towards their employees that the workers decide to stay in or leave a company, as opposed to due to the organisation itself. Good and bad supervisors influence employees tremendously. An employee’s positive and negative experience with the boss also affects his/her social relationships. Work-life balance value is an attribute determining that a proper balance between the employees’ work and life allows them to work in harmony with all their identities. It is important to consider that they have a personality outside the work. An appropriate balance between work and social life makes employees work more efficiently and effectively. Armstrong, Riemenschneider, Allen and Reid (2007) defined the quality of work-life as satisfying an employee’s needs via the resources, activities and outcomes that arise from involvement in the workplace.

Although there has been much research on work life balance (WLB), still it is an area of concern for any industry, and hospitality industry is not an exception either. Striking a good work-life balance is arguably a factor that helps retain employees in the organisation. Rowley and Purcell (2001) argued that the hospitality industry has higher than average skill shortages, labour turnover and hard-to-fill vacancies. With specific attention to the impact on the work-life balance, Smith and Gardner (2007) suggested that conflict between work and family life is linked to job dissatisfaction and staff turnover. McDonald, Brown, and Bradley (2005) identified flexible working conditions as one of the important dimensions in terms of the factors that influence employer attractiveness. Similarly, Huang, Lawler, and Lei (2007) found that having a work-life balance decreased employees’ intentions to leave an organisation. Likewise, Glen (2012) found a strong positive relationship between work life balance, employee retention and career development aspects.

Conversely, Deery (2008) identified the long and unsocial hours, low pay and often-low status of some tourism jobs, especially in the hospitality area hampered the work-life balance and therefore the hospitality sector would neither easily attract new staff nor retain existing staff. Likewise, White, Hill, McGovern, Mills, and Smearton (2003) advocated that diminished quality of work-life leads the employees to dissatisfaction and less commitment so they leave the


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organisation. Guest (2002) studied the work-life balance by relating it to attitudes and values of two groups of workers; and reported that those in Generation-X sought greater balance in their work and family life while older workers did not. Similarly, Solnet, Krali, and Kandampully (2012) concluded that the millennial employees are unlikely to remain with the same. Similarly, Sthapit & Shrestha (2018) affirmed that rewards and compensation helped retain entry-level employees, while recognising employer branding as a strong retention measure for those on higher hierarchies. Likewise, the study further stressed that balanced work-life and employer branding would help retain older employees, while evincing career growth as the strongest retention measure, and balanced work-life as the weakest one to retain male hotel employees in Nepal.

In this regard, Nepalese hotel managers can utilise employer branding as a shade under which they can channel diverse employee enrolment and retention activities into an organised human resource strategy. In like manner, hotel employers can control brand capacity to engage their employees in emotional ways to accomplish change, remarkable outcomes or increase attraction and retention. It is, therefore, relevant to examine the practices of employer branding for retaining the employees in Nepalese hospitality industry.

III. RESEARCH METHODS The design employed for this study is cross-sectional and descriptive in nature. A descriptive survey— a systematic, non-experimental method for gathering information from a sample for describing the attributes of the larger chosen population— best fits in ascertaining and describing characteristics of the studied variables and allows for the use of questionnaires.

Table 1 Sample hotels

SN Name of the sample hotels Address 1 Soaltee Crowne Plaza Tahachal 2 Radisson Hotel Lazimpat 3 The Malla Hotel Lekhnath Marg 4 Shangrila Hotel & Resort Lazimpat 5 Hyatt Regency Taragaon, Boudha 6 Hotel Annapurna Durbar Marg

Note: Sampled from HAN, 2018

The target population of the study is the five-star hotels in Nepal, which have been in operation for at least 10 years. The official data of the Hotel Association of Nepal have put the total number of 5-star hotels in Nepal at eight (HAN, 2018) of which three are the international chains of hotels in Kathmandu and the rest are just domestic. The study has used a stratified random sampling method to select six five-star hotels stationed in the capital Valley of Kathmandu; they represent 75 per cent of the defined population. Out of the six hotels sampled, three belong to the international chain of hotels and three do not. Table 1 presents the list of sample hotels.

Furthermore, the population of the respondents consists of the front-line employees working at the front office, housekeeping, and service and food production, of the sampled hotels. Prior to determination of the sample size, the information about the number of frontline employees


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of the hotels in each of the sampled hotels was obtained from the human resource departments of the respective hotels. The study used a convenience sampling method to determine the required sample size of 278 respondents from the population of 976 front-line employees of the sample hotels, which followed the rule that requires sampling it at 95 per cent confidence level with ±5 per cent margin of error (Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods, 2008). The study has covered employees from the three management hierarchies: The top-level managers are the departmental heads; mid-level managers the assistant departmental heads and sectional heads within the department, while low-level employees are non-supervisory employees (other than top managers, assistant managers and mid-level managers) of the sampled hotels.

The study used a structured questionnaire to collect required data using a non-disguised approach and validated with content validity by scrutinising it through HRM experts. Finally, after required modifications, the questionnaire was administered on 343 potential respondents within a period of 40 days from 5th November to 15 December, 2019. The study used a self-administered process in two hotels and with the help of assistants in rest four sample hotels by following drop-and-pick method, as this technique is an effective means to reduce potential non-response bias through increased response rate. There was a follow-up to collect the questionnaires on time and offered assistance to the respondents having difficulty in completing the questionnaires. Out of the 343 distributed questionnaires, altogether 301 filled-up ones were collected, and 292 were found to be complete and usable; it has posted a valid response rate of 85.13 per cent, a success rate high enough to go ahead without performing a non-response bias test. The study has used various non-parametric tests as the variables have been measured on an ordinal scale. The study has used descriptive statistics, Kendall’s tau correlation and Jonckheere-Terpstra test for testing if there exists a significant difference on various dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding across management hierarchies.

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS The Table 2 exhibits the sample characteristics under three strata of respondents. The first stratum is the level of respondents enshrined in top, middle and entry-level jobs of the respondents constituting 15.8, 25.3 and 58.9 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the second stratum is the age groups: those aged above 40 years (12.7 per cent), 30-40 (38.0 per cent) and below 30 years (49.3 per cent). Hence, the respondents are largely young and middle-aged: those below 40 years of age. And, on the gender-based stratum, male constituted nearly two thirds of the respondents, as they accounted for 63.7 per cent as against 36.3 per cent, of the fairer sex.

The Table 3 shows the frequency and percentage of rank for the given dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding for retention in Nepalese hotels. The table is of the evidence that, majority of the respondents accord higher priority to the economic value (37.70 per cent) followed by the development value (25.30 per cent), interest value (19.20 per cent) and work-life balance (17.80 per cent) with the ranks of first, second, third and fourth, respectively.

Table 2


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Sample characteristics

Panel A: Management Hierarchies of the sample respondents Level Frequency Per cent Cumulative per cent

Top level 46 15.80% 15.80 Middle level 74 25.30% 41.10 Entry level 172 58.90% 100 Total 292 100% Panel B: Age groups of the sample respondents

Age Group Frequency Per cent Cumulative per cent Above 45 years 37 12.70% 12.70 30-45 years 111 38.00% 50.70 Below 30 years 144 49.30% 100 Total 292 100% Panel C: Gender of the sample

Gender Frequency Per cent Cumulative per cent Male 186 63.70% 63.70 Female 106 36.30% 100 Total 292 100%

Note: From the authors’ survey, 2019

Table 3 Descriptive statistics for employer branding dimensions

Employer branding dimensions

Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Median rank Rank

No % No % No % No % Development value 74 25.30% 88 30.10% 64 21.90% 66 22.60% 2 2 Economic value 110 37.70% 66 22.60% 68 23.30% 48 16.40% 2 1 Work Life balance 52 17.80% 38 13.00% 68 23.30% 134 45.90% 3 4 Interest value 56 19.20% 100 34.20% 90 30.80% 46 15.80% 2 3 Note: Calculations from the authors’ survey, 2019

The Table 4 exhibits the Kendall’s tau correlation for four dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding by management hierarchies. The management hierarchy of the respondents has posted a negative and significant relationship with the economic value dimension of employer branding (-0.182), and a positive and significant relationship with the interest value dimension of employer branding (0.234). It implies that hotel employees at the lower hierarchy have recognised the economic value as an important dimension of attractiveness in employer branding and an important factor for their retention, whereas top-level employees have termed it less important.

Similarly, the top-level employees perceive interest value as the most important dimension of attractiveness in employer branding, and is, therefore, a significant factor for their retention, while it is of less importance for lower level employees in Nepalese hotels. It evinces that the perceived importance levels of the components of dimension of attractiveness in employer branding vary according to management hierarchy of the employees in Nepalese hotels.


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Table 4

Kendall’s tau correlation analysis

Variables Development value

Economic value

Work Life balance value Interest value Management

hierarchy

Development value 1

Economic value -.227**

1

(0.001)

Work Life balance value

-.380** -.271** 1

(0.001) (0.001)

Interest value -.191** -.336** -.143**

1

(0.001) (0.001) (0.004)

Management hierarchy

-0.044 -.182** 0.06 .234** 1 (0.387) (0.001) (0.252) (0.001) ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Note: Calculations from the authors’ survey, 2019

The study also performed a Jonckheere-Terpstra test for robustness check on dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding and retention at Nepalese hotels across the three management hierarchies to identify if the population across these groups differ. Table 5 shows that there is a statistically significant difference across different level of employees’ preference for economic value and interest value as dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding and retention with observed J-T statistic of 9542 and 15212, p = 0.001 and 0.001 respectively. Further, the table also depicts that there is no mean rank difference on development value and work life balance value as dimensions of attractiveness for employer branding and retention across different hierarchies of management at Nepalese hotels. These findings are in compliance with the results of Kendall’s tau correlation coefficients.

Table 5

Jonckheere-Terpstra test

Statistics/Variables Development value

Economic value

Work Life balance

Interest value

Observed J-T Statistic 11408 9542 12812 15212 Mean J-T Statistic 12022 12022 12022 12022 Std. Deviation of J-T Statistic 709.10 702.86 689.31 703.50 Std. J-T Statistic -0.87 -3.53 1.15 4.53 Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) 0.387 0.001 0.252 0.001 Grouping Variable: Management hierarchy Note: Calculations from the authors’ survey, 2019


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Table 6 Post hoc analysis

Dimension Sample 1-Sample 2 Test statistic

Std. Error

Std. Test Statistic Sig Adj. Sig

Economic value Entry-Middle level 4068 498.438 -4.691 0.000 0.000

Interest value Middle-Entry level 8496 489.475 4.356 0.000 0.000 Top-Entry level 5060 364.045 3.033 0.001 0.004

Note: Calculations from the authors’ survey, 2019

The post hoc analysis for economic value in Table 6 depicts that the mean rank differences exists across entry - middle level employees of Nepalese hotels (p value=0.000). The Figure 1 depicts the mean rank values for economic value as dimension of attractiveness in employer branding for three different levels of hierarchies. The mean rank is higher for entry-level employees followed by middle level and top-level employees with the mean rank values of 129.65, 150.50 and 183.18. The mean rank values indicate that entry-level employees in the hotel industry consider economic value as the most important factor for among others. Further, Figure 2 shows the box plot diagram of the median rank for three different hierarchies.

Figure 1. Pair-wise comparisons for economic value across management hierarchies

Figure 2. Independent samples Jonckheere Terpstra test for economic value

Similarly, the post hoc analysis for interest value as the dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding and retention in table exhibits that the mean rank differences exists across middle - entry level (0.000) and top - entry level (0.004) employees in Nepalese hotels. The Figure 3 depicts the mean rank values for interest value as dimension of attractiveness in employer branding and retention for three different levels of hierarchies. The mean rank is


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higher for middle level employees followed by top and middle level employees with the mean rank values of 117.07, 123.5 and 165.31, respectively. The mean rank values indicate that entry-level employees in the hotel industry considers interest-value as the least important factor, among others. Further, Figure 4 shows the box plot diagram of the median rank for three different hierarchies.

Figure 3. Pairwise comparisons for interest value across management hierarchies

Figure 4. Independent samples Jonckheere Terpstra test for interest value

V. CONCLUSION The study concludes that distinct components of attractiveness in employer branding i.e. at least in economic and interest value dimension have different levels of perceived importance across different level of management hierarchies in Nepalese hotels. The study specifically concludes that economic value is the major and interest value is of least important dimension of employer attraction for retention for entry-level employees. Whereas for middle and top-level employees in Nepalese hotels, interest value is most preferred dimensions of employer attractiveness for retention, while they identify economic value as the least influential HR retention tactic. The result is consistent with the findings of a previous Nepalese study by Sthapit and Shrestha (2018). Further, the statistically significant relationship existing between economic value and interest value (-0.346**) implies that in case of management hierarchy, the Nepalese hotel employees’ preference swings between economic value and interest value as a factor that motivates them to stay with the current employer. The finding has matched with that of Moncraz, Zhao and Kay (2009) that was specific about the workforce hierarchies


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and noted that interest value and economic value would reduce HR turnover and increase commitment among managers and entry-level employees respectively.

Future scope of the study Extension for future research could incorporate quantitative research testing the devised conceptual framework, notwithstanding investigating deeper into the seven key subjects distinguished within employer branding to discover which brand characteristics are valued the most by employees. Additionally, other service organisational set-ups could likewise be investigated along these lines to check whether results are comparative between services organisations, and the outcomes would then be able to be summed up over the service sectors.

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Human Resource Management Challenges in the Hospitality Industry: Insights from Nepal

Surya Kiran Shrestha4 PhD Candidate

Tribhuvan University, Nepal

ABSTRACT Hospitality industry in Nepal is growing along with tourism industry, which is further supplemented by the rising entry of international chain of hotels. It has increased the demand for the efficient management of qualified human resources. However, there are also challenges at varying levels to manage human resources in this industry. Therefore, this paper explores human resource management (HRM) challenges in the hospitality industry. The data for this study was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews of 20 HR directors/managers from the Nepalese five-star and four-star hotels who were chosen using a purposive sampling method to ensure that the participants have enough experience of managing human resources in hotels. The findings reveal both internal as well as external challenges faced by the Nepalese hospitality industry.

Keywords: hospitality industry; qualified and skilled human resources; human resource management; brain-drain

I. INTRODUCTION AND STUDY OBJECTIVES This paper explores human resource management (HRM) challenges in the hospitality industry focusing on Nepalese hotels. The hospitality industry that incorporates lodging and food service operations includes a wide range of services including food outlets, smallest roadside inn, catering in transport services and largest five-star hotels among others (Andrews, 2009). Since the services in the are primarily run by its people, understanding human resources management in a larger context that explore beyond the day-to-day operations is essential (Jerris, 1999).

Although the concept of HRM in the hospitality industry in Nepal evolved after the adoption of liberalisation and privatisation policy in 1990 (Maharjan, 2013), it has yet to gain its maturity. Consequently, the management of human resources in the Nepalese hospitality industry faces a number of HRM challenges at varying levels ranging from recruitment processes to training and development, satisfying employees, maintenance of labour relationships, unionisation, and employee retention. In Nepal— like many other countries, tourism and hospitality industry

4 Shrestha is associated with NATHM as Deputy Head of BHM programme. He is a well-known faculty of hospitality and tourism management in Nepal and involved in designing curricula of different academic and training programmes related to hospitality and tourism management.


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is the mainstay of the economy that contributes significantly to its growth. According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the national tourism organisation of Nepal, the number of international tourist arrival in the country exceeded 1.1 million in 2018 and is expected to reach 2 million by 2020 (Pun, 2019). According to Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was NPR 99.8 billion (USD 982.5 million), 4 per cent of total GDP in 2017 and is forecast to rise by 4.9 per cent in 2018, from 2018 – 2028, to NPR 152.4 billion (USD1.5 million), 4.2 per cent of total GDP in 2028. The data of tourist arrivals has shown the changes between January and February of 2018 and 2019 as 25.4 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively. The growth in tourism industry also brings about that in hotel industry as well, and Nepal is also not an exception to it.

According to the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism, the annualised growth rate of hotels and restaurants in Nepal was close to 10 per cent, and the contribution of hotel and restaurant sector in the total GDP was above 2 per cent in the Fiscal Year 2017/2018 (MOCTCA, 2018). The Hotel Association of Nepal (2018) has estimated that more than 10 five-star hotels with around 1,200 rooms would start operations within 2019 in addition to other categories of hotels. Among them 7 hotels of that category have already started their business by August 2019 and others are in the pipeline. Now there are 15 five-star hotels in Nepal; and another 12 five- and four-star hotels will come up in few years (Katipur Daily, 2019). They are also targeting the vision of Visit Nepal 2020.

The Government of Nepal, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has planned to organise ‘Visit Nepal Year’ in 2020 to attract more tourists to the country. The government has set a target to bring in two million tourists each year by the targeted year. It is apparent that, in order to cater to the demand of future tourism and hospitality industry, a pool of qualified and skilled human resources is needed, which further reinforces the need for effective and efficient management of those human resources.

A recent survey data of Hotel association Nepal (HAN) shows that tourism industry provides 200,000 direct employments and 1.2 million indirect employments. The total number of female direct employees engaged in tourism is above 80,000.

However, in order to effectively managing human resources, it is important for the managers to identify and foresee the HR challenges; it is something this paper envisages to achieve. Furthermore, although a few previous studies have highlighted the challenges related to the tourism and hospitality industry in Nepal, a comprehensive and holistic review of the challenges has been neglected. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the HRM challenges in the Nepalese hospitality industry from a developing country perspective. The findings of this study are expected to benefit policy makers as well as hotel managers in devising policies that help them to resolves challenges and effectively manage human resources in the one of the most demanding industry in Nepal.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW Being a labour-intensive sector, the hospitality industry faces a number of issues related to the management of human resources. Past literature has shown that one of the primary challenges of hospitality sector HRM are basic wages which are lower in hospitality industry than other industries like IT, retail, banking, and telecoms. Past literature also reports that HR


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practices are not standardised, and it is another challenge. In addition to them, past literature identifies as other challenges: a general lack of professional approach and vision, a lack of growth as well as learning and HR development opportunities, long working hours, high employee dissatisfaction and attrition rate among hospitality professionals, a poor perceived image of hospitality and tourism sector especially in relation to inadequate and inefficient training and education programmes that also discourage employees to stay longer, and high employee turnover rate among others (Bhutia, 2014; Kim, 2014; Sajnani, 2018; Srivastava, 2008; Wakelin-Theron, 2014).

As a result, the demand for human resources in hotels and restaurants far exceeds the supply in many countries. For example, according to a study conducted by Ministry of Tourism on Human Resources requirement in Hotel industry, tour operators and travel sector in Darjeeling (of India), the supply of qualified and trained human resource is not even touching 40 per cent of the total demand in hotels & restaurant sector (Bhutia, 2014). Additionally, the industry has not been able to attract talented young generation to serve the industry.

Srivastava (2008) noted that the supply of competent and skilled human resources has been the biggest challenge especially at the managerial level in tourism and hospitality industry. Consequently, the hospitality industry has to employ significantly unacceptable percentage of untrained manpower affecting negatively the quality of service offered to the tourists (Bhutia, 2014).

A similar study by Wakelin-Theron (2014) has also found that there is lack of adequate skills among many hospitality graduates. Put another way, hospitality graduates are not adequately prepared for the absorption in the industry. The knowledge of an academic subject is no longer enough in today’s challenging work environment, so it is important for graduates to develop skills that will increase their chances of finding employment (Wakelin-Theron, 2014). Consequently, Srivastava (2008) has emphasised on prioritising the issues of the quality of supply of talented human resources to keep the hospitality industry up and growing so that it can contribute to the social and economic development of the country.

Nepal has a much-diversified population. A Nepalese survey has indicated that approximately 138,148 persons are engaged in the tourism sector of Nepal (Government of Nepal, 2014). About two-third (68 per cent) of employees were of the age between 20 to 40 years, among which half of the employees had completed intermediate level of education and 19 per cent were highly skilled.

The existing literature agrees that one of the key HRM challenges in the Nepalese hospitality industry is related to brain-drain. The lucrative job prospects outside of Nepal that includes earning higher than what a relatively more qualified person in Nepal could earn and more opportunities for talented employee’s people abroad have given birth to expectations among the Nepalese youths who are then naturally inclined to overseas opportunities. Nepali companies neither would be able to provide such opportunities in Nepal, nor meet the expectation of the youth (Sthapit & Shrestha, 2018; New Business Age, 2018).

Apart from the poor infrastructures including transport services in Nepal; low salary, higher rate of unemployment, rampant unethical practices among the service providers, and inflation are the other dissatisfying and de-motivating factors for the Nepalese youth causing brain-


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drain from Nepal and posing significant challenges for the management of employees in the Nepalese hospitality industry (New Business Age, 2018). In addition, hassles arising from activities of the trade unions are other de-motivating factors that have prevented deserving candidates from approaching for jobs in Nepali companies. Consequently, many youths seem to be attracted towards the public service jobs as they provide job security and good salaries (New Business Age, 2018).

On the basis of the review of literature, a need for identifying the key challenges to the management of human resources in Nepalese hospitality sector has been realised, and it can better be done through the direct interview with the top level managers and directors of highest-rated hotels so that it can bridge the study-gap existing in this sector.

III. RESEARCH METHODS The study has applied a qualitative approach to explore the HRM challenges in the Nepalese hospitality industry, as this research approach is useful to describe a phenomenon and its characteristics and is more concerned with what rather than how or why something has happened. On the same line, Phillimore and Goodson (2004) argues that qualitative research is as much a way of conceptualising and approaching social inquiry as it is a way of doing research. Qualitative research is designed to tell the researcher how and why things happen as they do (Cooper & Schindler (2010). It includes a selection of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, and translate the things.

The data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews administered on 20 HR directors/managers from the Nepalese five-star and four-star hotels. Those HR directors and managers were chosen using a purposive sampling method ensuring that the participants have enough experiences of the management of human resources in hotels. The five-star and four-star hotels were chosen, as far as the key interviewees are concerned for the study because they are the representative of the tourism and hospitality industry and the majority of HRM challenges appear in those hotels.

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION The preliminary findings of this study reveal that lower productivity among employees, lower level of effort in developing human resources, weak managerial competency, interference by trade unions, low salary at entry level, and weak information management system are the internal challenges to the human resource management in the Nepalese hospitality industry. A large majority of the directors and managers interviewed share a common opinion, thus:

In general, the pay is low for the entry level employees in Nepalese hospitality industry. There is no specification about the salary system. Whether they hold a bachelor degree or just a specialised training in any area, all of them get almost the same salary at the entry level.

The general shortage of skilled human resources, increased competition at the entry level for qualified human resources and the attraction for overseas employment among the youth are the external challenges to the human resource management in Nepalese hospitality industry. In this context 16 out of 20 directors and managers opined:


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There is a shortage of skilled blue-collar workers…, because growth opportunities are limited…there are problems with operation and management structure. So, it is very difficult for Nepalese hotel industrialists to retain the qualified and skilled human resources. Many of them have opted for going to the foreign countries for jobs.

Besides them, the undue political pressure from parties and their leaders for employing their henchmen and favourites is another challenge facing the hotel industry. The hotels will have to lose quality candidates and hire unnecessary workforce, if they succumb to the political pressure.

Furthermore, this study has also found that the increased HR turnover and brain-drain caused by foreign employment fashion among the youth and fresh graduates have caused unstable and inconsistent service quality in the hotel industry in Nepal.

The majority directors and managers gave the account of their observation about the HR challenges thus:

“The major challenge being faced by hotel industry is the interference from trade unions in the process of human resources recruitment. Political leaders also put undue influence to hire their followers and relatives, so it is difficult to follow the merit-based HR selection.”

The industry has also been facing the lack of executive level of human resources because of the brain-drain and unhealthy competition between hotels. The industry has also failed to develop leaders so they are insufficient to meet the demand of the growing industry. Middle level human resources are attracted by handsome salary and high living standard of foreign countries. Junior level employees do not respect the seniors if they are Nepalese citizen. So, the industry prefers hiring foreign people— mostly from India— at the executive level positions.

Figure 1: Challenges to HRM in Hospitality Industry

Challenges to HRM in Hospitality Industry

Lower pay/ compensation

Fewer opportunities for development (HRD)

Mismatch between classroom learning and workplace

Shortage of skilled human resources and executive level leaders

Retention of competent, skilled human resources

Undue political and trade union pressure for hiring their henchmen/ favourites

Growing tendency to prefer foreigners in hiring top-level managers


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It was found during the study that many academic and training institutions did not have adequate labs for practical and there were some gaps between the syllabi and the practices in the industry. According to them hospitality management institutions should coordinate with industry and revise their syllabi as per the requirement of industry. They said:

A key challenge of HR management in the Nepalese hotel industry is that there is shortage of skilled human resources. There is a mismatch between what students learn in their curriculum in colleges and universities and what the employers expect from them at their workplaces. Most academic institutions follow the conventional teaching pedagogy. Also, no proper practical training is provided by the institutions.

V. CONCLUSION Hospitality industry in Nepal is growing along with tourism industry, which is further supplemented by the rising entry of international chain of hotels. It has increased the demand for the efficient management of qualified human resources which are the key to successful management of tourism enterprises, especially in this labour-intensive industry. However, there are also HR-related challenges which the present study attempted to identify.

The seven major challenges the present study has identified from an interview of hotel managers (Fig. 1) are associated with typical HRM functions of HR acquisition, development, and maintenance, as well as with labour relations management and public policy regime of the government and other stakeholders.

In view of the challenges to HR management in the hospitality industry in Nepal, the key measures to address them would be the implementation of efficient and systematic process of human resource management, reasonable salary structure, and promoting the system to hire qualified, skilled human resources through fair selection criteria. A combined effort of the hotel entrepreneurs, hospitality industry leaders, the government agencies and other stakeholders should be forthcoming to thrash out durable solutions to overcome the HR related challenges.

Therefore, the findings of the present paper could be useful for the policy makers as well as hotel managers to devise policies and practices that could ensure the successful management of hospitality industry as a whole.

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Cooper, R. D., & Schindler, P. S. (2010). Business Research Methods, New Delhi, Tata McGraw Hill. Government of Nepal. (2014). Tourism Employement Survey-2014. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ministry of

Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. HAN (2018). Hotel Association Nepal. Retrieved from http://www.hotelassociationnepal.org.np/ Jerris, L. A. (1999). Human resources management for hospitality. New Jersey, USA.: Prentice

International Inc. Kantipur (2019 Sept 2). Finance. A national Daily News Paper.


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Kim, N. (2014). Employee turnover intention among newcomers in travel industry. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(1), 56-64.

Maharjan, M. P. (2013). Department of Management Science and Business Studies. Retrieved from http://hrmstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Maharjan2013.pdf

MOCTCA. (2018). Nepal Tourism Statistics-2017. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation.

NRB (2019). Monetary Policy-2019/20, Nepal Rastra Bank, Central Office Baluwatar, Kathmandu 2019, July.

New Business Age (2018). Experts Views on HR Management in Nepal 2. Retrieved from http://www.newbusinessage.com/MagazineArticles/view/2052

Phillimore, J. & Goodson, L. (2004). Qualitative research in tourism, Routledge, London & New York ,Tayler & Francis Group.

Pun, S. (2019). Nepal Tourism Campaign #VisitNepal2020. Retrieved from https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2019/03/05/nepal-tourism-campaign-visitnepal2020/

Sajnani, M. (2018). Challenges and way ahead for Indian hospitality sector. Retrieved from https://hospitality.careers360.com/articles/challenges-and-way-ahead-for-indian-hospitality-sector

Srivastava, P. K. (2008). HR Challenges in Tourism Industry in India. Paper presented at the Conference on Tourism in India – Challenges Ahead, India. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268297210_The_HR_Challenges_in_Tourism_Industry_in_India

Sthapit, A., & Shrestha, B. (2018). Employee retention practices in hospitality industry in Nepal: Investigating the moderating effect of management hierarchy, age group and genderKelaniya Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(2), 1-22. doi:10.4038/kjhrm.v13i2.53

Wakelin-Theron, N. (2014). Employability development in Higher Education institutions: a tourism student perspective. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 3(1), 1-16.


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The perception of employees about the regulatory environment in the tourism industry: Insights from Nepal

Sandeep Basnyat5

Asst. Professor, Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) MACAO, CHINA

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the perceptions of tourism employees on the role of regulatory environment including the government in promoting employees’ welfare. Despite a need for an examination of employees’ voice in the formulation of employment policies and in their implementation by a government, no or very little literature specifically dealing with this topic has been found during the present study. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap. Based on an in-depth semi-structured interview with hotel and airline employees in Kathmandu (Nepal), this paper hammers out three key aspects of the regulatory environment that may affect employees’ welfare, viz., efficiency of labour law, government’s attitude towards tourism labour, and judicial process and system. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the tourism industry as well as for the government in developing countries.

KEYWORDS: regulatory environment, tourism employees, tourism industry

I. INTRODUCTION This paper aims to explore the perceptions of tourism employees on the role of regulatory environment including the government in promoting employees’ welfare. The labour market in the tourism industry is dominated by a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises that employ many highly seasonal, part-time, female and migrant workers among others (Singal, 2015). Many of these workers receive relatively low wages and often work in poor working conditions (Chambers & Rakić, 2018; Zampoukos & Ioannides, 2011). Although the tourism industry provides a variety of opportunities and positions for a range of labour including new entrants with minimal skill, because of the characteristic of labour work: routine and manual tasks, irregular working hours and sometimes an exploitative management, it has also been considered by some as an undesirable industry to work in (Cooper & Ruhanen, 2009; ILO 2003; Wood & Pedler, 1978). A few reports on the development and challenges in the hospitality and tourism sector have indicated that working conditions have not improved much in many establishments, including some hotels and airlines (Bakas, Costa, Breda, & Durão, 2018; ILO, 2010; Vučetić, 2018).

5 Dr. Basnyat is based in Colina de Mong-Há, Macao, China, and can be reached at Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]


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Improving working conditions in the tourism industry is however affected by several factors, including the roles that industrial relations actors— such as employers, employees, the government, and trade unions, among others--play (Edwards, 2003). For example, the government can influence the welfare of employees directly through laws on wages (e.g., minimum wages), and working conditions (e.g., on hours of work) (Edwards, 2003). Since, the tourism industry is highly labour intensive (Riley, Ladkin, & Szivas, 2002), developments in the regulatory environment including tourism policies and practices of the government may have significant impacts on a large number of workers, and on their psychological and socio-economic lives (Hill, 1977; Woo & Postolache, 2008).

Therefore, considering the characteristics of the labour market conditions coupled with their potential adverse effects on a large number of workers, development of such policies and practices by the government should at least include the voices of tourism employees who will actually be the one who will bear the consequences of those policies and practices. To be fair, it isunder-researched, as there only a few studies that demonstrate the effects of government policies on labour markets (Beatson, 1995; Destefanis & Mastromatteo, 2009; Lopes, 2003), the implications of justice systems for the workers (Silber, 1974), or how governments have systematically supressed union formation that advocate for employees’ welfare (Anyim, Ikemefuna, & Ekwoaba, 2012; Hyman & Gumbrell-McCormick, 2010). This paper has sought to fill this gap by exploring the views of tourism employees about the current status of regulatory environment, including the labour laws and policies, the roles played by the government and how they influence the welfare of tourism workers.

This study focusses on the labour market in the hotel and airlines sector in Nepal, undertaken in Kathmandu, the capital city. Nepal provides a fitting platform for the study because of its experiences with a number of labour disputes for a variety of reasons including legal matters for the last 20 years (Upreti, Sharma, Upadhaya, Ghimire, & Iff, 2013). This study also has sought to examine the situation within the context of a developing nation. In comparison to developed countries where steady wage and employment are the norms, the labour market in developing nations is usually extremely volatile, and the workers not only earn low and uncertain earnings for their long working hours, a large majority of those who work in the private sector are not registered with the government and therefore do not receive job-related social protections (Fields, 2011). Hence, it is expected, that this study can assist industry practitioners, including managers and workers, as well as policy makers in devising and executing appropriate policies and strategies in order to develop and strengthen the labour market and improve working conditions in developing countries. As many developing countries seek to build the tourism industry as an engine for their economic development (Cooper & Ruhanen, 2009), the study is expected to be useful for researchers who are focusing on developing countries.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW This section presents a review of past literature in the studied area.

Government and employees’ welfare The labour market comprises the total working environment at local, regional, national or transnational level … consists of all industry sectors, their personnel requirements and skill


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needs, as well as those outside the actual workforce (Baum, 2008). Enhancing welfare by maintaining and improving working conditions consistently is the key to enhance productivity of workers in all forms of labour market. The result of Lindner’s (1998) study of 25 employees at the Piketon Research and Extension Centre and Enterprise Centre found that good working conditions ranked fifth among top ten factors that motivated employees at work. Apart from improving working conditions, the provision of overall social security benefits such as family benefits, unemployment benefits, medical insurance, and maternity benefits, among others, to workers are also important and their presence contribute to raising labour productivity and curbing social tensions, violent conflicts, and uncontrolled migration (Khanal, 2012). Government, as a key industrial relations actor, can provide a regulatory environment through its laws and policies that can improve working conditions and increase employees’ welfare. However, while regulatory environment may provide benefits for workers; it can also pose serious constraints for workers to enjoy those benefits and welfare, and impede them from using their rights. For example, although the regulatory environment created by the government with generous social-safety nets, a favourable tax system, strong unions, and favourable employment legislation among others can improve the welfare of workers, the government employees’ attitudes about the workers and their situations can negatively affect the working conditions (Lavigna, 2014). Similarly, if companies decrease employment in response to their increased costs due to tight labour market policies (Harrison & Scorce, 2006), it will eventually result in job loss for many workers.

One option to include the voices of employees is through the consideration of trade unions’ presence in the policy making. Such an inclusion can significantly increase the possibility of employees’ voices to be incorporated in the government mechanism. In principle, trade unions may engage with the government to make demands for bringing in legislation or they may engage in more lasting forms of accommodation (such as ‘corporatism’ in the Nordic countries or a series of ‘Accords’ in Australia) (Edwards, 2003). While trade unions find it useful to exert pressure on the government to formulate policies that are helpful for the workers, their actions are also sometimes affected by state policies (Anyim, Ikemefuna, & Ekwoaba, 2012; Hyman & Gumbrell-McCormick, 2010) that are targeted to influence the overall labour market. For example, the government influences the overall labour market by enacting laws specifically designed to influence trade unions such as union government laws.

An earlier study conducted by Munson and Nanda (1966) in India among politically, industrially, and hierarchically cross-sectioned union leaders from Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay, revealed that the enactment of Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code, dispute settlement mechanisms and other restrictive legislation directed union activities into legal channels and created restrictions on the organisation of direct actions. In addition, occasional arrests and detention of trade union leaders for organising strike actions affected trade union movements (Munson & Nanda, 1966). Similarly, Hyman and Gumbrell-McCormick (2010) have noted that although during the 2008/09 economic crisis in Europe the European governments became the key advocate of the demands put forth by trade unions, they were systematically repressed in the early stage of union formation, which actually became the cause of state being the target of collective action from trade unions in most southern European countries. The key for improving employees’ welfare is, therefore, to include voices of those who will be directly affected by the policies and prevailing practices designed by the


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government. Although extremely important, this aspect has been ignored in the current literature. This paper attempts to fill this gap by imploring the views of tourism employees about the current policies and practices of the government and how they influence employees’ welfare in Nepal.

Employment policies and practices in Nepal Nepalis a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. The total contribution (direct and indirect) of travel and tourism in the Nepalese employment is above 6 per cent (WTTC, 2018). The majority of the tourism employment is concentrated in hotels and homestays, travel agencies, trekking agencies, rafting agencies, domestic and international airlines, and sports and other recreation agencies such as paragliding, skydiving and ultra-light aircraft services in Nepal (MOCTCA, 2014). Apart from these, employments in the tourism industry are also provided by the companies operating tourist vehicles, restaurants and adventure industries, including bungee jumping (MOCTCA, 2014). Like any other industry, the labour market plays an important role in the development and growth of the tourism industry and has been well documented in several works (Wood, 1997; Riley, Lockwood, Powell-Perry, & Baker, 1998; Riley, Ladkin, & Szivas, 2002; Lucas, 2004).

Even though the government of Nepal had introduced the Nepal Factory and Factory Workers’ Act in 1959 to address the labour issues, the first official Labour Act was only promulgated in 1992 (Rimal, n.d.) and was amended in 1998. It aimed at protecting workers’ and employees’ rights and interests together with providing a number of facilities and safety measures at workplaces (Adhikari & Gautam, n.d.) including in the tourism industry. The Labour Act 1992, thus, provided a variety of clauses for regulating working conditions including types of employment, minimum wages, grade, conduct and punishment among others in relations to workers and employees. The Labour Act 1992 also included a few special provisions for the workers and employees working in special types of enterprises including hotel, travel, trekking, adventure, rafting, and jungle safari. These special provisions were related to the engagement of female workers at work: safety of workers working in rafting and trekking businesses; accidental insurance of workers; payment of field allowances; and, provisions of the first aid (Government of Nepal, 1992). However, the Labour Act 1992 was heavily criticised for its inadequacy in addressing some pressing labour issues including provisions related to social security and hiring-and-firing practices that had caused disputes between the workers and the management in the tourism industry (Aryal, 2012). Upreti, Sharma, Upadhayaya, Ghimire and Iff (2013) presented a number of labour disputes between 2000 and 2011 at different tourism organisations in Nepal and argued that these labour disputes had caused instability in the working environment and posed challenges for the sustainability of the tourism industry. For this reason, the government of Nepal repealed the Labour Act 1992 and enacted the Labour Act 2017 to create a more conducive environment for workers in the country (Nepal Economic Forum, 2018).

The new Labour Act 2017 has included several provisions that aim to reduce informalities and uncertainties and provide safe, secure and better working environment for both employees and employers. For example, the previous labour act was only applicable to entities where there were 10 or more employees; whereas the new Labour Act 2017 is applicable to all entities regardless of number of employees (Nepal Law Commission, 2017). It also provides


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provisions for entities that want to hire employees for different terms as per their need as well as recognised the role of interns and trainees. Furthermore, the new labour act has made the provision of outsourcing of works, reduced the probation period by six months, increased the overtime hour to 24, and allowed employees to become eligible for receiving gratuity from the first day of employment. More importantly, the Labour Act 2017 includes the provisions for medical and accidental insurances for addressing health and safety issues of employees (Nepal Law Commission, 2017).

Apart from the labour act, the resolution of employment and work-related disputes in Nepal is also governed by the various ILO conventions that Nepal has ratified, and by the Labour Court Rules 1995. Additionally, several other labour laws such as Trade Union Act 1992, Essential Services Maintenance Act 1957, Bonus Act 1974, Industrial Enterprise Act 1992 (now, the new one is Industrial Enterprise Act-2016) and Children’s Act 1995 among others have been promulgated by the government of Nepal to protect workers’ rights and conditions in Nepal (Rimal, n.d.).

The Labour Court is a special court in Nepal that resolves labour disputes (Khadka, 2012). In addition to the Labour Court, the Supreme Court also resolves labour disputes in Nepal (Khadka, 2012). However, for the past several years, the judiciary has often been mired in controversy about its hearings and decisions (Dahal, 2014). Similarly, it is widely suspected that corruption is endemic in the Nepalese government including its judiciary and allegedly frequent payoffs are made to judges for favourable rulings (Freedom House, 2015).

The workers’ situation in various industries including tourism is particularly challenging as a large number of workers, as much as 90 per cent of the total workforce, operate in informal sectors such as farms, trading, crafts business, and transportation among others (Khanal, 2012). Although the government of Nepal has expressed its commitment to expand safety nets and social protection coverage for these workers through the new Labour Act 2017, they have typically been deprived of social protection benefits such as universal family benefits, social assistance, and social insurance. Even though most of the policies and programmes are announced with good intentions during the budget speech, the resultant scattered schemes are riddled with difficulties related to accountability and implementation (Khanal, 2012). The Government of Nepal has revised the minimum wage repeatedly (the most recently in July 2018) and provides for the social security of workers, they are applicable only in the formal sector (Nepal Economic Forum, 2018). The situation is even worse in the private sector where the employers are not willing to provide any kind of health benefits to the workers. They also seek to avoid permanent employees as much as possible in order to escape the perceived additional burden of social security expenditure (Khanal, 2012).

The Social Security Fund generated by levying one per cent tax on the salary of government and the non-government employee is one of the various legal arrangements made by the government of Nepal to provide social security to the workers (Khanal, 2012). This fund runs various schemes that provide insurances for unemployment, employment accident, sickness, maternity, dependent, disability, elderly or old age, medical treatment and, family. Despite the accumulation of a huge fund, it is yet to be put into operation and so has been strongly criticised by workers (Khanal, 2012).


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III. RESEARCH METHODS

This qualitative paper draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 22 hotel and airline employees from April 2015 to February 2016 in Kathmandu, Nepal. To obtain recent information on the topic and the corresponding views of participants, 7 participants were interviewed through Skype between August 2018 and February 2019. Stake (1995) recommends that the decision related to the choice of methodology (qualitative or quantitative) should be made, apart from others, by distinguishing the explanation and understanding of the purpose of the inquiry and the knowledge that is discovered and constructed. Ritchie (2003) has noted the power of individual interviews in examining subjective phenomena by emphasising that they are 'particularly well suited to research that requires an understanding of deeply rooted or delicate phenomena or responses to complex systems, processes or experiences' (p. 36). This research aimed at focusing on the examination of the research participants’ views on what and how they felt about the existing policies and practices of the regulatory environment in the tourism industry in Nepal, and therefore, required a close investigation through in-depth qualitative interviews with the participants. A total of 22 participants were the hotels employees and the remaining 7 were airlines workers. The number of participants taken from the airline is smaller because of proportionally lesser number of airline companies in Nepal. The workers interviewed during the study were engaged in hotels and airlines for a period from 4 to 25 years. Amongst the sample, 13 workers had experienced disputes with the management and five of them had resorted to a judicial settlement of their disputes.

The workers were selected using convenience and snowball sampling methods. The convenience sampling method was used to recruit the first participants to begin data collection.

Once the process began, the researcher extensively used snowball sampling as a dominant method for participant recruitment and data collection. Researchers (Lee, 1993; Saunders, 2012) have suggested using snowball sampling as the primary method of recruitment when a member of a homogenous group of population can help to identify another participant. Appendix 1 presents a brief sketch of the participants’ profile. Interviews lasted between 30 minutes and 1.5 hours. The interviews were conducted in Nepali which was later translated and transcribed verbatim into English. Later, the interviews were coded using a three-stage coding process following a grounded theory approach— initial, focused, and theoretical. While a constant comparative method was used to analyse the data, the researcher’s self-reflective memos (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) aided in integrating contexts with subsequent analyses.

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Efficiency of labour law There has been a significant change in the employee attitude towards the efficiency of the labour law in Nepal. A significant majority of participants, who were interviewed in 2015 and 2016, expressed a strong dissatisfaction for the Labour Act 1992 and stated that it was inefficient as it provided security only to those workers that were employed in an enterprise having 10 or more employees. After the enactment of the Labour Act 2017, there has been a surge of hope and expectation as the new law is applicable to all entities regardless of the number of employees. Such hope and expectations were expressed by employees


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interviewed in 2018 and 2019. However, despite hope and expectations, most employees were critical about the effective implementation of the new labour act, particularly in the tourism and hospitality industry where a significant majority of workers work in the informal sector and that may fall beyond the coverage of the new labour law.

Sketching a rough estimation, one male hotel employee said:

I assume there are 9.6 million people working in informal sectors all over Nepal. That also includes those in tourism industry. Within the tourism industry, so many of them are working in informal sectors such as tea stalls, small restaurants, and souvenir shops for tourists, and as domestic helpers for those tourists who live in apartments and so on. How will they be covered by the existing labour act?

One of the biggest problems in the prevailing Labour Act 2017 — as many participants pointed out— is its failure to address the inadequate provisions related to the basic salary and allowances. it has posed difficulty particularly to the workers in the airlines industry where the proportion of basic salary to their total salary was smaller, and a large part of their income came from allowances such as food, accommodation and clothing. The participants said that because the additional benefits in income such as overtime payments were usually calculated from the employees’ basic salary, their (employees’) additional income was lower compared to the efforts they put on the extra work. As a result, the employees were less motivated to work additional hours for the betterment of the company. One female participant employed in an airline recounted:

The main problem with private sector airlines is that the basic salary is very low and the allowances are high. And, it has adversely affected the income level of the workers here. For example, my salary is 18,000 rupees per month. If you consider a month means 30 days and working per day means 8 hours of working, then, on average, I earn 75 rupees per hour. Now out of my 18000 rupees, 10400 is the basic salary and remaining 7600 rupees comes from the allowances such as accommodation and clothing. When the airline asks me to work overtime, they pay me 1.5 times of my wage rate which is according to the Labour Act 1992. The problem is they pay me 1.5 times the basic salary and not the total salary. If calculated from the basic salary, my hourly wage rate is then 44 rupees. The labour law does not spell out whether the payment should be made from the basic salary or from the total salary. So, for every extra hour I work, I earn only 44 plus 22 rupees. That means I earn Rs. 66 per hour from my extra work which is less than my ordinary wage rate. Why would I work overtime then? There is no motivation for me (P8).

Many participants noted that the then Labour Act 1992 had a provision which required that workers should be made permanent after working continuously for 240 days in a year. The participants argued that despite such a clear provision of the number of days, many employers interpreted 240 days of continuous working in a single year as working for a year, so the employees were made permanent only after one year even though they should have been made permanent in eight months. After the enactment of the Labour Act 2017, as the participants believed, such a confusion would no longer exist as the new labour act clearly defines that an employee should be made permanent after successful completion of a six-months’ probation period.


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However, some participants also expressed concerns about inadequate provisions in the Labour Act 2017 related to hiring trainees. They noted that the prevailing act allows employers to provide employment to trainees for a year, and after the completion of a year, the employers are not bound to continue the trainee’s employment. Since tourism and hospitality industry hires numerous employees as trainees, some participants suspected that the provision in the new labour act may only promote a temporary employment system in the industry.

Despite some difficulties and suspicions, the participant interviewees were hopeful that the new labour act would be able to promote welfare of the employees and develop mutually beneficial industrial relations in the tourism and hospitality industry in Nepal.

Government’s attitude towards tourism labour Several participants stressed that workers’ issues in the tourism industry has been in shadows because the government is less concerned about them. They opined that the government was not doing anything to encourage employers to accept their employees, especially those at junior positions, as an integral part of the company. They argued that because many employers in hotels and airlines considered junior workers as outsiders and believed that they did not care for the company, there were disputes between the management and the employees. Some participants also stressed that there was a lack of respect for tourism workers on the part of the government. One female hotel employee put it this way:

No one cares about us if we die while working on our work site. But if a political party's cadre dies, he is honoured— his body is covered with the national flag. The government does not have any respect for workers (P3).

Many participants expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s incompetence in using the social security fund for employees that was established a few years back by the government and was co-funded by the contribution from employees’ one- per cent tax deductions. Despite huge savings, the government was not utilising the fund to make investments and provide benefits to employees, they said. A few participants also added that if the government had operated the social security fund, they would at least not have worried about money if they faced an accident or if they fell sick.

Some participants employed in airlines commented that the government lacked in efforts to understand airlines employees’ situation and extend cooperation to them. They argued that the government treated airlines jobs as luxury ones and assumed that employees were working in comfortable conditions. As a result, the voices of the airlines’ workers were hardly taken into consideration during meetings with government representatives. They also commented that the government was indifferent to workers’ issues in the airlines sector because of the fear that the company would pull back its operation in certain sectors and such a withdrawal might affect the government’s revenue. The concern was more pronounced in international airlines. One participant employed in an international airline company narrated this way:

We once had a negotiation with the management in the presence of officials from the Labour Ministry. Instead of listening to us, the Labour Ministry secretary warned us not to give pressure to the senior management. He was fearful that the [name of the international airlines] may pull back its Nepal flights and operations (P10).


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The impact of the indifferent nature of the government towards the tourism employees was evident in the way participants perceived government employees. Some participants believed that government employees were less accountable for their work in relation to regulating and monitoring the operations of hotel and airlines and suspected them of being corrupt. As the following male hotel employee said:

I have realised that the many government employees are not accountable for their work. For example, I have seen that a tax officer sometimes visits our hotel. But, as soon as he enters the hotel, he is taken care of, provided with good food and drinks. Maybe he receives some economic benefits too. He does not even check anything. He simply sits in the restaurant and chats with our F & B manager. Then he goes away and does not return for a year or two (P11).

For several participants, seeking legal ways to resolve their issues was not a possibility because they suspected rampant corruption in the judicial system as well. However, some participants had indeed sought justice through the labour court. Their experiences are discussed in the next section.

Judicial process and system

Most participants believed that the judicial system in the country took too much time to provide justice to employees. Such a time-consuming process disincentivised employees from seeking legal help. One hotel female employee remarked:

It took almost one and a half year for the Labour court to give its verdict to reinstate a worker who was fired by the management for damaging properties in our hotel. Now this person was a union member, and he was economically supported by his family. He also knew some people in the political party. So, he could get justice. But it's really difficult for many people to take on a case with such a strong willpower and determination. People have their family to support. So, they give up halfway through the process and probably never go back to court again (P18).

Some participants believed that sometimes even if the Labour Court served justice, it was ineffective because it took so much time in giving its verdict. Reflecting on personal experiences, one male participant, who was previously employed in a casino that closed down after a labour dispute, put it this way:

After the casino was closed, we approached the court [Labour Court]. We had not been paid our salaries for more than eight months. So, we filed a case against the owner. The court [Labour Court] gave its verdict in our favour but it took almost a year to give its verdict. By then, the owner of the casino had already fled the country. Until now, we have not been paid our remaining salaries. So, what is the use of such a justice system when it cannot be effective? (P16).

The participants suggested that the labour court needed to be more efficient in handling employees’ disputes. They believed that by efficiently handling labour disputes, the labour court would not only gain the confidence of workers, but its verdicts would also be effective.

V. CONCLUSION The aim of this paper was to explore employees’ perception of the regulatory environment in the tourism industry. Semi-structured interviews administered on 29 participants working in


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hotels and airlines in Kathmandu revealed three key aspects in the regulatory environment that may affect employees’ welfare in Nepal— efficiency of labour law, government’s attitude towards tourism labour, and judicial process and system.

Although most employees expressed happiness with the provisions in the new Labour Act 2017 of Nepal (against the previous Labour Act 1992), because a vast majority of workers are working in informal enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry and a significant number of them will be deprived of legal protections in case a dispute arises with the management, there was an air of scepticism about the effective implementation of those provisions in the new labour act. Furthermore, there is a lack of clarity on the provisions relating to the basic salary and allowances in the prevailing labour laws. It often contributes to the lack of motivation for the employees to work additional hours for the betterment of the company. Working extra hours could be a huge income boost and, therefore, welfare boost for workers. However, such opportunities may erode due to lack of motivations for working extra hours. The problem can be more pronounced in private sector airlines where workers’ basic salary is low and the allowances are higher.

To some extent, an inexplicit wording in the previous Labour Act 1992 regarding the computation of the period of work has been resolved with the new provision of six-month probation period in the new Labour Act 2017. However, some participants were critical about the possible promotion of temporary employment system through the increased use of trainees. The airline employees face a distinct challenge as they believe that the prevailing labour act has been designed keeping the context of manufacturing industry workers in mind and is not adequately suitable for the airline sector.

Another factor adversely influencing tourism employees’ welfare in Nepal is the indifferent attitude of the government towards the workers pushing workers’ issues to the shadows. The junior level tourism employees particularly worry about the government’s inability to encourage employers and make the employers accept workers as a part of their companies. Employees’ dissatisfaction has resulted from the lacklustre attitude of the government in implementing the social security fund established a few years back by the government “for the workers.” The airline employees worried because of the government’s indifference in addressing their labour problem. They believe that their job is considered luxurious by the government officials who are unwilling to consider their views during meetings. As a result, they feel that the government is particularly biased against tourism industry employees. Furthermore, what adds woes to tourism employees is the time-consuming judicial process and system in the country that has disincentivised workers to seek judicial help when needed.

The present study demonstrates the vulnerability of working conditions in the labour market of the tourism industry that has arisen due to unclear laws and indifferent attitudes of the government as is often noted by several studies (Cooper & Ruhanen, 2009; ILO 2003; Wood & Pedler, 1978). Congruent with the Edwards (2003), this study shows that the government can influence employment relationships directly through laws on wages and working conditions. Importantly, this study has sought to show how deficiencies in the prevailing laws pose challenges to workers, particularly sub-sectors of the tourism industry such as airline where the nature of work is different from the other industries like manufacturing., This study also exhibits how the lacklustre attitude of the government in implementing its own decisions—


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so common in many developing countries— can exacerbate the vulnerability of the workers’ situation and increases their fear. The study raises an important issue that the regulatory bodies in the developing countries may regularly need to revaluate the regulatory environment created by their own laws and system to ensure that such provisions and laws truly reflect the welfare of workers, improve their working conditions, and protect their rights. At the same time, the findings of this study also raise the issue of social securities from the workers perspective. Therefore, future research on how social security schemes can contribute to better workers’ conditions can provide useful insights for the policy makers, managers, workers and the researchers alike.

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Appendix 1 Profile of participants

Participants (P) Gender Age range (Years) Employment Position Years of experience 1 Male 35-40 Airline Officer 12

2 Male 40-45 Hotel Sr. Officer 8

3 Female 30-35 Hotel Asst. Manager 9 4 Male 45-50 Airline Asst. Manager 10

5 Male 50-55 Hotel Manger 25

6 Male 40-45 Hotel Asst. Manager 10

7 Male 30-35 Airline Officer 7

8 Female 25-30 Airline Assistant 10

9 Male 30-35 Hotel Asst. Manager 2 10 Male 50-55 Airline Asst. Director 12

11 Male 45-50 Hotel Manager 26

12 Male 45-50 Airline Manager 20

13 Female 30-35 Hotel Manager 12


15 Female 25-30 Hotel Assistant 6

16 Male 45-50 Hotel Head of Department 14

17 Female 25-30 Hotel Assistant 12

18 Female 30-35 Hotel Sr. Assistant 6 19 Male 50-55 Airline Deputy Director 13


21 Male 50-55 Hotel Deputy Director 21


23 Female 30-35 Hotel Asst. Manager 8

24 Female 25-30 Hotel Assistant 7 25 Male 45-50 Hotel Manager 30


27 Male 40-45 Hotel Deputy Director 18


29 Female 25-30 Hotel Asst. Manager 15 Note: From author’s surveys


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What Motivates Tourists to Visit Religious Sites? A Case Study of Pashupatinath Area

Sunita Dabadi6 Coordinator, MHM Programme

Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM)

Sitaram Sharma7 Freelance Researcher

ABSTRACT The study examines the motivation to visit religious site of Pashupatinath Area. Based on a structured questionnaire survey, the study sought if the three types of travel motivation, namely, construct motivation, religious motivation, and secular motivation push tourists to visit Pashupatinath. Using a purposive sampling technique 152 respondents who had stayed overnight in the hotels in Kathmandu Valley for Pashupati visit were successfully surveyed. The result revealed that secular motivation plays a significant role to visit the Pashupatinath followed by religious motivation. ANOVA found no significant relation between marital status and age group as to what motivate one to visit religious sites.

Key words: Construct motivation, religious motivation, secular motivation

I. INTRODUCTION AND STUDY OBJECTIVES Religious tourism is considered as the oldest form of people’s travel and it is believed, since the dawn of time, human beings have defined some elements of the natural and built environment as spiritual sites regarding them as sacred (Blackwell, 2007). In many cases, people are made to believe that a visit to religious site provide them with super natural qualities. It is a type of tourism whose participants are motivated either in part or exclusively for religious reason (Rinschede,1992). The study further claimed that religious tourism would orient itself by the motive of the tourist journey to sacred places; it provides opportunity for the householder to detach themselves for some time from the cares and worries of daily life and to devote that time to prayer and listening to the spiritual discourses of the holy people. There are many sacred sites and the huge number of people travel to those sites not only for religious or spiritual purposes or to have a practice with the sacred in the traditional sense, but also

6 Ms Dabadi, a PhD candidate at Faculty of Humanities, Tribhuvan University, is coordinator of MHM programme at NATHM. She can be contacted [email protected] 7 Mr Sharma is an MHM graduate from NATHM. He can be contacted [email protected]


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because they are distinct and marketed as heritage or cultural attractions to be consumed (Timothy & Boyd, 2003)

The research and debate among scholars examining religious travel major focus has been on the tourist and the pilgrim, the main players in the relationship between religion and tourism (Cohen, 1992). Many literature-works view tourists, and pilgrims from two discrete perspectives, the first and most popular view is that tourists and pilgrims are similar, for even when the role of tourist and pilgrim are combined, they are necessarily different but form a range of inseparable elements (Graburn, 1997).

Although many literature works consider tourist and pilgrims to be similar, but there is contradiction and many radical thinkers deny that the pilgrims should be tourist (Oslen & Timothy, 2006). Several authors described a possible contrast between pilgrimage and tourism is that while a devout pilgrim needs to take part in some kind of admiration at a religious shrine, the tourist does not; however, other authors consider that a visit to a shrine may have reasons other than worshiping God (Ambrosio, 2007) such as identification with shrines and sacred places of historical and cultural meaning, whose sensual images are important to both sacred and secular travellers to remember and relive the experience (Smith, 1992).

Past research has discovered that people visiting religious sites are not driven exclusively by external factors, such as religious institutions and their scripts, which merely fall into Dann (1977) category of pull factors, but also by push factors that may also entail non-religious motives. Similarly, Allport (1966) identified two main types of persons, the extrinsically motivated person who uses religion, religion playing only an instrumental role and serving assorted forms of self-interest, such as satisfying one’s social life (Durkheim, 1964). Secondly, a intrinsically motivated person who has blind faith in religion, and fully devote their life in religion, neglecting the subjectivity of the religious experience according to which both the sacred and the secular elements may be of equal importance (Terzidou, Scarles, & Saunders, 2017).

Satyal (2002) claimed that Nepal could be called the home of sacred place of pilgrimage full of sacrament and lively age-old culture and arts. The study further claimed it was the other way of life inner mostly rooted in cultural practice and social customs. For the people of Nepal religion is more than belief; it is knowledge, practice and skill. Pashupatinath is the ancient temple and one of the most important and popular pilgrimage sites to the Hindus around the world, as they believe that their sins are absolved after the visit. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the site every year and it has a great impact on tourism. temple is listed in the UNESCO world heritage site list as well, that’s why Pashupatinath area was selected for the present study. The present research focuses not only on religious motivations but the non-religious motivation as well and it has specifically emphasised on the implications of tourist motivation for visiting religious sites.

The study aimed at identifying the factor that motivates tourists to visit religious sites. Based on the gap identified following objectives are formulated.

To explore the tourists’ motivation in visiting Pashupatinath as a religious site; and


51

To analyse the existence of differences by religious, construct and secular motivation in

visiting Pashupatinath across marital status, age group and gender of the respondents

II. LITERATURE REVIEW This section discusses the past literature works concerning the religious site visit motivation.

Conceptual Review Ghimire (2009) explained that tourism is related to traveling and is naturally a human character. People need change, and travel provides the change; travel has existed since the primitive period but not the concept of tourism. During those time motive for travel was not to seek holiday from the routine work but was trade and commerce or pilgrimage or to explore. Similarly, Mathieson (2006) has acknowledged that religion has been a powerful force and has long made people to travel to religious centres in many parts of the world. The study also claimed that there was a concern that holy places were being developed for tourism and it was distracting one from the religious significance which has made them famous. The change in traditional forms of pilgrimage destinations, with diffusion in spiritual motivation, has seen many temple and religious places are increasingly becoming tourist attractions as well as places of worship.

Religious tourism is a combination of two words tourism and religion, after this it is defined as a system of beliefs in a higher being that are held with great faith and commitment (Richards & Fernandes, 2007). Similarly, (Oliviera, 2006) advocate there is a confusion between the visitor motivated by religious secret and only interested in the culture of these events or locations. This happen due to the complex reality of the religious travel. According to Santos (2003), the idea of difference between religious pilgrimages arose in Europe in the post-war years, as a result of the decline in religious practice, the growing popularity of trips by car or bus, and the secularisation of societies and in some countries, the reduction in flows of traditional pilgrimages. Religion has not declined but is rather taking a different form, modern societies continuous to remain religious, but religion has become increasingly de-institutionalised (Sharpley & Jepson, 2011). That's the reason why people who might be travelling for the reason related to religion or spirituality, may not observed as being directly religious (Richards & Fernandes, 2007).

There was a rare existence of tourism studies in academic field till 1970 (Nash 1996). However today religion and tourism are inseparable. It is still among the most common motivations for travel, and religiously motivated pilgrimage, which remains one of the world’s oldest and most basic forms of population mobility, is emerging as a major tourism phenomenon in the twenty-first century (Collins-Kreiner, 2010).

With the development of studies about tourism in academic filed, the difference between tourism and pilgrimage began to emerge in the 1970 and the base for this development (MacCannell, 1973) proclamation that the tourist as a pilgrim are in search of something different and authenticity. After this claim (Graburn, 1977) characterised tourism as a kind of ritual, suggesting the existing of parallel processes in both formal pilgrimage and tourism that could be interpreted as sacred journeys. Although modern tourism is regarded as a relatively new phenomenon, it is clear that its origins are rooted in the age-old phenomenon of


52

pilgrimage. It is surprising, as the development of tourism is difficult to understand without a thorough understanding of religion and the practice of pilgrimage in ancient times (Timothy & Oslen, 2006).

Introduction of Study Area

The Pashupatinath temple is a one of the four most popular religious site for the Hindus around the world built in 5th century B.C. This sacred temple is located in the bank of Bagmati River, which is approximately 5 kilometres north-east of Kathmandu in the eastern part of Kathmandu Valley, the capital of Nepal. The temple is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. People active participation is observed at all times of day in Pashupatinath as it is considered as the centre of energy. It attracts thousands of pilgrims each year and has become well known for its collection of ashrams, images, and inscriptions raised over the centuries. More than one million devotees visit it in Maha Shivaratri, one of the major festivals related to Pashupati. Non-Hindus are prohibited to the main temple of Pashupati, but they can have a good view of the temple from the opposite bank of the river.

Development of Conceptual Framework The research in a religion and spirituality is done by different scholars taking different element into consideration. The present study has identified different variables from the different literature and incorporated in this work.

People get influenced by the impression of miracles produced by a myths and narratives by religious institutions, due to which they decide to travel to sacred places (Terzidou et al., 2017). Similarly, practices of discipline and power filled on people by institutions either religious or political shape the wider public and spread religious discourses and performances (Xie, 2011). Therefore, so as to motivate visitation patterns, religious authorities create ‘induced imagery (Fakeye & Crompton, 1991). Imagining, constructing and developing the insight of religious place with the help of narratives and visual media is the way they mostly follow the place, particularly directing towards certain spaces that are operated by ideological interpretations which is acquired through religious texts and language (Selwyn, 1996; Terzidou et al., 2017). In Hinduism sacred sites are visited mainly by the high castes (Bhardwaj, 1973; Rinschede, 1992). Whereas, Baudrillard (1981) said many religions create "strategies of desire”, through which consumers-tourists are mobilised by promises, such as miraculous healing, as a unique source of handling and suffering, religion acts as a psychological support in reducing people’s uncertainty and fear associated with death and health related issues.

The power of sharing of religious tourism experiences and of community narratives can help to generate, maintain and intensify the authenticity of the visited site (Belhassen et al., 2008), plus this highlights the power of word-of-mouth along with the trust in the experiences of others and the power of word of mouth (Lester & Scarles, 2013).

The innovation in tourism industry made religious tourism closely connected to holiday and cultural tourism, as spiritual journeys and visits are not the main and dominant motives for travel (Rinschede, 1992). In the same way, Keeling (2000) argued in his study that the basic activities in the most religious sites is worship and prayer, along with this, the scholar further claimed that when visitors go to cathedrals in England, spiritual motives are not the only reasons why people visit them. This indicates that religious and secular motives are often


53

intertwined. Similar motives for visitation was identified by Nolan and Nolan (1992), Shackley (2001), Smith (1992), and (Vukonic, 1996) that many people tend to visit religious heritage sites for recreational, educational or cultural interests rather than spiritual reasons. This indicate that the visitor travel to the religious site not only for the religious purpose but also for different other purpose as well, which are yet to be discovered.

Pilgrims undertake a journey of pilgrimage with strong expectations that they will experience something extraordinary and life changing (Digance, 2003, Turner & Turner, 2011). The relationship between the human and the divine has increased in the context of a vow (Badone, 1990), similarly Olsen’s (2006) accept the view that pilgrims believe they can obtain divine assistance by undertaking a journey for the sake of sacredness. Religious visions and apparitions are strong motivators of action, as they create affective bonds with the sacred, constituting signs and symbols that provide order and meaning to the faithful (Gesler, 1996).

Fig 1: Conceptual framework for religious travel motivation

Design and Methodological Paradigm The study applied a quantitative research method of research applying a survey approach data collection which comprised of descriptive and causal research design. Quantitative research focuses on the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationship.

Descriptive design, based on detailed conceptual framework of the study and different variables considered in it, the present study developed a set of survey questionnaires structured in rating scale to study and analyse the travel motivation to the religious site. It is basically correlational research in nature, as it emphasises on relationships between dependent variable and the independent variables.

Further based on various statistic computed and hypotheses taken into consideration needful statistical test comprising, T-test, ANOVA was run as per the nature of statistics and unit of analyses.

Religious site travel

motivation

Construct Motivation

Secular Motivation

Religious Motivation


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Population and Data Sampling

Tourist visiting the Pashupatinath area of Kathmandu district were selected as the population of study purpose. For accuracy in result, only those respondents were selected who stayed overnight in the hotels in Kathmandu valley. Sampling were collected during the month of February, March, and April. Purposive sampling method was used, 250 questionnaires were distributed out of which 98 questionnaires were found incomplete. Hence, 152 valid questionnaires were used for the data analysis. The profile of sample respondents is depicted in Appendix 1.

Table 1

Motivation to travel Pashupatinath

Motivation to travel Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent

Religious place 30 19.7 19.7 Leisure time spent purpose 40 26.3 46.1 A part of the package 13 8.6 54.6 To see the place 65 42.8 97.4 others purposes 4 2.6 100 Total 152 100

Note: Calculated from the authors’ survey, 2019

The table indicates that 42.8 per cent of visitors confirm that they visit the site to see the place followed by the purpose of spending leisure time which is 40 per cent. Similarly, 30 per cent of the visitor visited the site because it’s a religious place.

Table 2

Descriptive statistics

Panel A: Religious motivation Components Mean Std. Deviation

Pilgrimage 2.395 1.180 Getting something Closer to sacred 2.362 1.046 Ethnic diversity is unique 2.000 1.157 Searching for forgiveness 3.026 1.223 Religious activities are worth following 2.296 0.927 Expressing love and respect for god 2.053 1.078 Total 2.434 1.102

Panel B: Construct motivation Components Mean Std. Deviation

Planned travel after watching television 2.724 1.158 Tales of miracles 2.895 1.213 National pride 2.086 1.179 Word of mouth 2.645 1.289 Dreamed about this place 3.526 1.423 Total 2.769 1.064


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Panel C: Secular motivation Components Mean Std. Deviation

Historic value 1.658 0.892 Pashupatinath area is visually appealing 1.934 0.874 Cultural value and architecture 1.743 0.888 Destination respects natural environment 2.079 0.973 Exploring the legends and interesting stories about the temple 2.112 1.020 Following the modern trends in travelling 2.375 1.254 Total 1.984 0.984


Six statement were used in all the variables to measure descriptive analysis. In religious motivation Statement four (Searching for forgiveness) has the highest mean score of 3.026. Whereas statement three (Ethnic diversity is unique) has the lowest mean score of 2.0. Eventually, statement four (Searching for forgiveness) has highest standard deviation of 1.223. Likewise, statement five Religious activities are worth following has lowest standard deviation of 0.926. The table shows that the overall item has a mean value 2.434 which indicates that the response is positive.

Similarly, in secular motivation, the highest mean is observed in statement six (Following the modern trends in travelling) by 2.375, whereas lowest is observed in statement one (Historic value) by 1.658. Eventually, statement 6 (Following the modern trends in travelling) has highest standard deviation by 1.25446 comparing lowest statement 2 (Pashupatinath area is visually appealing) by 0.874. The table shows that the overall item has a mean value 1.984 which indicate that the response is positive.

Finally construct motivation, Statement Six (Dreamed about this place) has the highest mean score of 3.526, whereas statement four (National pride) observed lowest mean score of 2.086 Eventually, statement (Dreamed about this place) has highest standard deviation of 1.423 comparing lowest statement two (Planned travel after watching television) by 1.158. The table shows that the overall item has a mean value 2.769 which indicate that the response is positive.

Table 3

Analysis of variance on motivation of visiting religious sites across marital status Variables Sum of Squares Mean Square F Sig.

Religious motivation Between Groups 0.78 0.39

1.001 0.369 Within Groups 77.109 0.389 Total 77.889

Construct motivation Between Groups 1.363 0.682


Secular motivation Between Groups 0.087 0.043




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The table 3 indicates there does not exist the differences in religious motivation, construct motivation and secular motivation for visiting Pashupatinath temple across three levels of marital status of the respondents (P>0.05).

Table 4

Analysis of variance on motivation of visiting religious sites across age group Variables Sum of Squares Mean Square F Sig.

Religious motivation Between Groups 2.37 0.79


Construct motivation Between Groups 1.22 0.407


Secular motivation Between Groups 0.595 0.198



In the table 4, the analyses of variance (ANOVA) on motivation of religious site across gender was performed, the p value for all the variable was observed greater than 0.05, which specified that there is no significant relationship between travel motivation to the religious site and the age group of the respondents.

Table 5

Analysis of mean difference on motivation of travelling religious sites across gender

F Sig. t Df Sig. (2- tailed)

Mean Difference

Religious Motivation

Equal variances assumed 1.560 .214 .306 150 .760 .194 Equal variances not assumed

.288 81.77 .774 .194

Construct Motivation

Equal variances assumed 1.977 .162 -1.128 150 .261 -.783 Equal variances not assumed

-1.069 82.97 .288 -.783

Secular Motivation Equal variances assumed .025 .874 .791 150 .430 .396 Equal variances not assumed

.803 98.29 .424 .396


Independent sample t-test was run so as to clarify the gender perception towards the religious site travel motivation, the test confirms the equal variances assumed which proves that gender perception towards religious motivation and construct motivation is highly significant whereas as secular motivation is moderately significant.

IV. CONCLUSION The present study has covered the under-researched aspects of religious tourism to study what motivates travellers to visit the religious site of Pashupatinath. It performed descriptive


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analysis of the variables, as well as ANOVA-Test and t-test; it revealed that the secular motivation as the strongest factor (mean value of 1.981) motivating one to visit the religious site followed by religious and construct motivation. The study results have raised a question against the general belief that the people travel religious sites only for the religious purpose.

Of them, 42.8 per cent of respondent mentioned that the reason to travel the religious site was “to see the place,” 26.3 per cent for the purpose of spending leisure time, and 19.7 per cent for a religious purpose.

An ANOVA test was run so as to analyse the perception of to travel the religious site in terms of marital status and age group but the test confirmed that there is no significant relation between marital status and age group as to what motivate one to visit religious sites.

The present study results share similarity with Terzidou, Scarles and Saunders (2018) in which the researcher has examined the various motivation factor for visiting religious site within the Greek Orthodox context, and found that the motivations are institutionally constructed. Though motivations may initially be institutionally constructed, the present research has revealed that all three factors contributed significantly to contribute to the motivation to religious site travel. Similarly, a study of Bozic, Spasojevic, Vujicic, and Stamenkovic (2016), based on Vujan Monastery (Serbia) concludes that Religious tourists can be motivated, not only by pure religious motives, but also to visit sacred places due to educational purposes (learning about historic and cultural value, interesting stories). Secular tourists have cultural and education motives when visiting sacred sites, they travel to learn something, to follow the trends, while comparing the present study with these studies it concludes that although the Pashupatinath temple is a historic temple popular among the Hindus but it is significantly important for its architecture as well as cultural and educational value.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) for funding the research, and Asst. Prof. Bikash Shrestha (Public Youth Campus, Tribhuvan University) for the guidance and support in data presentation of this paper.

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Appendix

General information of Respondent Variable Category Frequency Percentage

Respondent by Nationality

USA Bangladeshi Bhutanese British Chinese French German Indian Japanese Others

14 9 7

10 20 10 8

20 10 44

9.2 5.9 4.6 6.6

13.2 6.6 5.3

13.2 6.6

28.8

Respondent by Age

15-25 26-35 36-45 Above 45

81 42 20 9

53.3 27.6 13.2 5.9

Respondents by Gender Male Female

103 49

67.8 32.2

Respondent by Education Level

School Intermediate Bachelor Masters Phd

7 8

86 40 11

4.6 5.3

56.6 26.3 7.2

Respondent by Occupation

Student employee/ job holder self-employed Unemployed Others

79 33 31 4 5

52.0 21.7 20.4 2.6 3.3

Respondent by Marital Status Married Unmarried Divorced

39 101 12

25.7 66.4 7.9

Visit background study Yes No

103 49

67.8 32.2

How did you hear about this place?

Magazine Newspaper Internet Friends/family T. V. Others

6 9

72 51 11 3

3.9 5.9

47.4 33.6 7.2 2.0


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Plan made by respondent

Self-organized Organized by the travel agent Organized by the tour operator Organized by a club or association Organized by others

70 40 23 14 5

46.1 26.3 15.1 9.2 3.3

Reason of the respondent to travel

Religious purpose Leisure time spent purpose A part of the package To see the place Others purpose

30 40 13 65 4

19.7 26.3 8.6

42.8 2.6

How longer you Plan to stay in Pashupatinath territory?

One day Two days More than two days

30 72 50

19.7 47.4 32.9


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GUIDELINES FOR PAPER SUBMISSION

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management (a peer-reviewed research journal) is the institutional publication of the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM), a leading academy for hospitality education promoted by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (Government of Nepal) with the affiliation with Tribhuvan University. The papers submitted for publication in the journal should follow the style and instructions as given below:

Papers must be empirical, or at least analytical. Also, analytical case studies and review papers can be included on the basis of their merit. The papers should be related to core and functional areas of hospitality and tourism management.

The paper should be structured as under: Title of the paper Abstract (limited to 150-180 words) and keywords (3-5 keywords) Introduction and Study Objectives (along with problem statement and brief rationale of

the study) Literature Review (Conceptual and Past empirical studies): It may also be covered under

the ‘Introduction’ section. Research Methods (Research approach, sample, instruments, analytical tools, etc.) Data Analysis and Discussions (Data results should be critically discussed) Conclusion (along with comparison with previous studies, if any) and future study-needs,

if any References (only those used in the paper text)

Every paper submission should have the first page as the title page which should contain paper title, authors’ name, institutional affiliation(s), full postal address, telephone and mobile number, and email address and very brief profile (maximum 50 words) of each author; and, if there are two or more authors, it must indicate which author will handle the correspondences.

Submission of a paper to the Journal will be taken to imply that it represents not any previously published, but an original work, and it is not being considered elsewhere for publication, and that if accepted for publication it will not be published anywhere without the consent of the Chief Editor or Editorial Team. Furthermore, the papers so received are subject to approval by Editorial Team; however, the ideas and opinions expressed in the papers published in the journal are solely those of author(s).

The contents of papers in no way represent views and policies of the NATHM or that of the editors.

Submitted papers should be written in British English, typed in double spacing with wide margins (1.5 cm) on each side of standard A-4 size paper. It should have a single-side printing on the paper. The text font should be in Arial with the 11-point size. The font in the tables should be Arial Narrow (11-point).

The preferred maximum length of a submission is 5,000 words.

The paper should have conclusions at the end. The main body of paper should be provided with mathematical proofs and calculations that justify the issue of the paper. Lengthy mathematical works and more extensive, detailed tables, if any, should be placed in appendices.

Tables and figures must be numbered with caption and brief descriptions.

Footnotes, if any, should be numbered consecutively with superscript arithmetic numerals at the foot of each page.

Citations and references in the text should strictly follow the APA format. References should be listed alphabetically.


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For books (Single and multiple authors):

Singh, T.M., & Sthapit, A. (2008). Human resource management: Text and cases, 1st ed., Kathmandu: Taleju Prakashan.

Sthapit, A. (2018). Human resource management: Issues and perspectives, 1st ed., Kathmandu: Taleju Prakashan.

For Journal Articles (Single and multiple authors):

Lao-hakosol, W., Sharma, A., & Sthapit, A. (2018 June). Macroeconomic factors and their influences on initial public offering (IPO) in Nepal, International Journal of Research, 5(16), 1617-1637. Journal e-ISSN: 2348-6848; ISSN-print: 2348-795X. Retrieved from: https://pen2print.org// index. php/IJR/article/view/15652

Sthapit, A. (2012). Strategic factors in evaluation of induction training effectiveness: An exploratory study of development bank managers. EXCEL International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies, 2(8), 16-32.

Swanson, R. (2009). Training program effectiveness in US private hospitals: An empirical study of Hispanic nurses, European Journal of Industrial Training, 21(3), 31-52. Retrieved from www.….

For Thesis (Master’s thesis works)

Shrestha, G. (2013). Purposes of tourist visits to Nepal and NTB’s promotion efforts. (Unpublished Masters’ Thesis) Faculty of Management, Tribhuvan University.

For Official Reports

Upadhyay, N.P., & Khanal, K. (2013). Management development scenario-2012. Management Association of Nepal. Web-page: http://www.man.org.np/. Accessed on 10-12-2012.

For Conference Paper

Sthapit, A., & Shrestha, B. (2018). Employee retention practices in hospitality industry in Nepal: Investigating the moderating effect of management hierarchy, age group and gender, 10th PIMG International Conference on Digital Strategies for Organizational Success; Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior, India: 5th to 7th January, 2018.

Paper in Edited Research Volume/ Book chapter

Sthapit, A. (2018). The Strategy of HRD Management in Nepal, Cambridge’s Psychology for a Better World 1(1), 97-128. ISSN/print: (10): 978-1-5275-2186-5. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, United Kingdom.

Author(s) submitting to the Journal should provide their paper(s) both in hard copy and on an e-copy. The e-copy should be in the Microsoft Word format to the following email address: [email protected], or [email protected]

The publisher and editorial board will neither be responsible to provide the reason whatsoever for rejected papers, nor manage logistics to return the paper to the author(s). Papers should be submitted To:

Chief Editor NEPALESE JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) Rabi Bhawan, Kalimati, Kathmandu, Nepal

email: [email protected] Website: www.nathm.edu.np


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Introduction to Nepal Academy of Tourism & Hotel Management (NATHM)

Nepal Academy of sTourism & Hotel Management (NATHM) has a history of four decades of service in Nepalese Tourism & Hotel Management Education. Established by the Government of Nepal 1972 with the technical assistance of UNDP/ILO with the aim to produce skilled workforce required by hospitality and tourism industry, NATHM was formerly known as HMTTC. Since its inception the Academy has been playing a crucial role in developing the human resources for this industry with the aim of enhancing the level of quality in tourism and hospitality services. It has been providing craft and supervisory level of skill-oriented training to cater to the market demands. This pioneer institution is renowned for generating qualified workforce for the ever-increasing demands of the hospitality & tourism sector. The Academy is guided by the Board of Directors chaired by Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation including the representatives of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Ministry of Finance, Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) and National Planning Commission (NPC), Department of Labour and Employment Promotion. It also has a strong support from government and donor agencies. As the industry has grown rapidly over the past decades, the need for professionally trained higher-level manpower is needed day by day. The Academy in consultation with the industry has launched the Bachelor in Hotel Management (BHM) Course from 1999, Bachelor in Travel and Tourism Management (BTTM) Course from September 2003 and Master of Hospitality Management (MHM) from January 2011 in affiliation with Tribhuvan University to fulfil the needs of supervisory level manpower in hospitality and tourism industry. NATHM is proud to announce that it has produced more than 51,000 (basic, supervisory and managerial level) workforces for the tourism and hospitality industry. Different studies show that among the people trained here; approximately 90 per cent are employed in their respective areas. In addition, Nepalese hospitality professional are highly demanded in global market. Products of NATHM are placed in the foreign hospitality industries mainly in Europe, USA, Australia and UAE (Dubai). OBJECTIVES OF NATHM The basic objectives of NATHM are:

To produce trained and skilled workforce required for the hotel and tourism industry; To conduct long term higher level academic programmes to produce managerial

level personnel; and To provide consultancy and carry out survey and research for the development of tourism

Nepalese Journal of Hospitality and Tourism ManagementNepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel ManagementRabi Bhawan, Kalima , Kathmandu, Nepal. P.O.Box 4715 Tel: 977-1-4270073, 5970605 Fax: 977-1-4271780 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nathm.edu.np

Price: Nepali - Individual Rs. 300/-, Ins tu onal Rs. 500/- Foreigner - US $ 20

issn : 2717-4948 nepalese journal of hospitality and

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